The Granddaddy of Them All.
Before Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, long before Philip Marlowe and Benoit Blanc, there was master sleuth C. Auguste Dupin.
First appearing in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), and returning in “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” (1842) and “The Purloined Letter” (1844), Dupin is generally regarded as the first modern detective–the template for all who followed.
The Poe Challenge
Adapting Poe’s story for the first act of Prime Stage Theatre’s Mr. Edgar A. Poe Presents posed several interesting challenges, not the least of which involved finding a way to have the action progress in real time at a single location.
By contrast, Poe’s story takes place at several locations over the course of a week. It opens in an “obscure library in the Rue Montmartre,” then proceeds to the streets of Paris, and thence to a “mansion in the Faubourg Saint-Germain” where Dupin reads about the Rue Morgue murders in the Gazette des Tribunaux.
In the days that follow, Dupin reads everything he can about the crime before visiting the scene in the Rue Morgue.
After that, it’s back to Faubourg Saint-Germain where Dupin finally announces his solution to the mystery.
A Single Place & Time
Clearly, for the adaptation to work, we needed to have the investigation take place at the scene of the crime.
In the process, we expanded the role of character Pauline Dubourg who, in the story, is one of nearly a dozen neighbors who heard screams and shouts coming from the victims’ home.
In our play, Dubourg is the only witness questioned by Dubin.
And then there is the character of Dupin’s companion, a first-person narrator who is neither named nor described in Poe’s story. In our play, that character becomes Mrs. Smith–an American expat living in Paris who arrives partway through the scene with a mysterious box.
What’s in the box? Can you guess? If you’re familiar with the story, you might have an idea what it is. If not, you can find out by attending one of this weekend’s performances … or by simply waiting for my next blog post, which will reveal all after Mr. Poe Presents concludes its two-week run on Sunday.
Reserve Your Ticket Now
Mr. Poe Presents continues through the weekend at Pittsburgh’s historic New Hazlett Theatre.
Tickets and information are available at the Prime Stage website.
So, don your deerstalker, grab your notebook and magnifying glass, and come join the mystery.
I’ll hope to see you there!
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