BWW Reviews: POE'S LAST STANZA Stands Without Fourth Wall

Broadway World Reviews: Poe's Last Stanza

Crowe Creates Poe In Fourth-Wall-Free Performance

If you're from Baltimore, you probably know there's no shortage of shows about the city's unofficial mascot, Edgar Allan Poe, often by impersonators who speak in the poet's voice. You may have seen one or more of them. I think I am personally acquainted with three actors who pay tribute to Baltimore's Bard.

But chances are you haven't seen POE'S LAST STANZA.

This show, commissioned by the Annapolis Shakespeare Company, enjoyed an inexcusably short run of three nights at Reynolds Tavern 1747 Pub in Annapolis. POE'S LAST STANZA was written and directed by C.J. Crowe, owner/director of Do Or Die Productions, the longest operating murder mystery company in the Baltimore/Washington area, known and beloved for its interactive comedy performances.

Crowe plays to her strengths of comedy, quick pacing and audience involvement in this dynamic show. Her two-person cast fluidly manages the period language, which includes Poe reading two of his better-known works. Ashlyn Thompson as The Barmaid is saucy, challenging, irritable and charming by turns, in response to the moods of her troublesome customer. Mr. Poe, elegantly played by John Kelso, who adopts a believable Virginia accent which will baffle only those who imagine Poe to be a native-born Baltimore Hon: he was, rather, an orphan raised by a wealthy Richmond benefactor after his traveling performer parents died separately of respiratory illness while appearing in the area.

Thus Richmond has also a claim to Edgar Allan Poe, as do Boston, the city in which he was born, New York City and Philadelphia, where he also lived and worked. However, it is Baltimore where he died and is buried, which holds the closest association with Poe in popular culture. Annapolis and Poe are not generally linked in the common consciousness, yet the space in which the show had its debut was ideal for this limited engagement.

Reynolds Tavern, an impressive boarding house and tea room built in 1737, offers historically detailed rooms to guests on its third floor, as well as luncheon, afternoon tea and (Wednesday through Sunday) candlelight dinner on the second floor. The brick courtyard allows seasonal al fresco dining and is host to warm-weather performances presented by Annapolis Shakespeare Company. I didn't see these impressive bits. The 1747 Pub, on the cellar level, might better be described as 'cozy' 'rustic' 'intimate' or 'drafty', though it does boast an impressive beer menu. The room in which the show was presented provided a realism that would be impossible to achieve in a traditional theater- Poe is in his natural habitat, at work, barely tolerated by the establishment staff and frequently annoying to other guests.

Crowe's version of Poe reveals him to be charming as well as infuriating, fragile, wry, impertinent and curiously humorous. The interplay between Poe and the Barmaid is genuine, interaction and direct address of the audience is unforced, and the audience (a shoe-horned twenty-five persons) is not simply engaged, but invested.

The performance, presented in two acts, is a delightful departure from intimate-space shows in which actors ignore audience members, pretending an impossible oblivion. POE'S LAST STANZA adheres to no such conceit: the audience is an integral element of the presentation. Instead of a they-vs-we (actors/audience) dynamic, there is brewed an us-ness, which I suspect was as much a factor in the guests' obvious enjoyment of the show as the clever writing and capable acting were, whether or not they recognized it.

POE'S LAST STANZA as the anchor to this gem of an evening deserves repetition somewhere (or many wheres) in Baltimore, Poe's final stomping grounds. If you were not among the fortunate 75 or 80 people to have enjoyed its debut, you have missed a rare treat. And that's a damned shame.

POE'S LAST STANZA, written and directed by C.J. Crowe

was performed at Reynolds Tavern 1747 Pub

7 Church Circle, Annapolis, MD 21401; (410) 295-9555; http://www.reynoldstavern.org/

October 28th through October 30th, 2014

courtesy of Annapolis Shakespeare Company

111 Chinquapin Round Road, Suite 114, Annapolis, MD 21401

410.280.1773 (Office) 410.415.3513 (Box Office); http://www.annapolisshakespeare.org/

Just in: Poe fans, be of good cheer! On Poe's birthday, POE'S LAST STANZA will be presented at the Sunset Restaurant in Glen Burnie for one night only: Monday, January 19, 2015. Visit www.doordiemystery.com for tickets and additional information.

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