Edgar Allan Poe as Performance Artist
Mustachioed, scowling, dressed in black—Edgar Allan Poe stares at us from the silvered surface of a faded daguerreotype. It is the face of a tortured poet destined for early death, but although the portrait was taken during the height of his struggle with depression and ill health, I can’t help thinking that it also reflects the writer’s intention to create a persona befitting the dark nature of his tales.
The Other Face of Poe
Poe’s penchant for performance art was well known in his day. Indeed, even as his stories thrilled magazine readers, he himself was packing theatres and lecture halls, captivating audiences with readings of his works and pondering subjects as vast as the mysteries of the universe. And it is that side of Poe that Prime Stage and I are attempting to recreate in Mr. Edgar A. Poe Presents: Tales of Mystery, Horror, and Imagination.
From Eureka to Enigma
In our production, Poe takes center stage, expounding on his literary theories much as he did 175 years ago. Indeed, the words with which he opens our play come directly from one of his final lectures, a spoken-word tour de force on the nature of human existence titled Eureka.
Using that text as a starting point, I have endeavoured to narrow the topic by having the poet contemplate the enigma that is Edgar Allan Poe himself. Thus, the tales featured in our performance become mirrors reflecting back on the poet, giving him the agency to at times step away from the podium, pass through the looking glass, and enter the world of his creation—all to better help us understand the man behind the fiction and reveal the true nature of one who lived, and loved, and lost, and put pen to page as he endeavoured to comprehend the horrors and mysteries of life through the art of imagination.
Speaking of Poe
Last week I stopped by the studios of WESA and WQED to talk about Prime Stage’s upcoming production.
In addition, both conversations touched on the new novel Minute Men: Execute & Run and the progress that brother Christopher Connolly and I are making in developing it as a feature film.
You can read highlights of my conversation with WESA’s Bill O’Driscoll in the Arts & Culture Newsletter.
To listen to my conversation with WQED’s Emily Brunner, simply click the player below. I’ll meet you there!
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