MANCHESTER, NH – Edgar Allan Poe died drunk and penniless beside a curb in Baltimore in 1849. At the time, most of his writings were still largely obscure (Poe was primarily known for his literary criticism), and his legacy hinged on a popular poem about a dead woman and a bird.
But history treated him well posthumously, and Poe’s work has become staples in high school English curriculums, and they are titular texts for kids wearing black clothes and too much eyeliner.
Poe also holds a seminal place with the American horror story, arguably the architect of the psychological monster, later seen in other iconic villains, such as Hannibal Lecter, Patrick Bateman and Annie Wilkes.
On Thursday and Friday night, April 11-12, at The Factory on Willow, four actors and mixologists from a touring troupe came to the Queen City to deliver some specialty cocktails combined with dramatic stage performances of Poe’s work.
“The Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy” is a “chilling cocktail experience” that combines the consumption of theme-related drinks with the stage performances of four of Poe’s works—the short stories “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat” and “The Masque of Red Death” and the poem that catapulted Poe to relative fame, “The Raven.”
Three performances were held each night at 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. with lines stretching onto Willow Street. Tickets cost $45, and each show on Thursday and Friday sold out the 180 seats. The audience ranged in age and attire, varying from hoodies and jeans to suits and sequined dinner dresses.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Ed Murphy, who attended the 6 p.m. show on Friday with his wife, Elly. “But we are Poe-lovers, and we live in Manchester. This was so different and artsy. It’s four people doing everything, from performing to delivering the cocktails, and they’re super-talented.”
The atmosphere in the studio had the ambience of the first speakeasies during Prohibition in 1920s—dark, dim, candle-lit and eerie. And each performance was accompanied with cocktails disseminated by the actors. The drinks included a Pale Blue Eye (“The Tell-Tale Heart”), Edgar’s Twisted Brandy Milk Punch (“The Black Cat”), The Nevermore (“The Raven”) and the Cocktail of Red Death (“The Masque of the Red Death”).
The actors for each piece boiled down Poe’s stories into engaging first-person monologues, performing on the small stage alone, adorned with candles, behind a haunting soundtrack.
Clearly trained in theater, the performers would intersperse glibs of modern vernacular and humor, holding a diverse crowd rapt as each psychologically unhinged narrator descended into madness..
Caity Bean and Amy Arrigo heard about the show on Facebook and decided to check it out. “It’s something different that seemed pretty cool, and I like weird gothic stuff,” said Arrigo.
While not everyone embraces Poe’s writing or chooses to dally in the macabre, we all sometimes visit that madness, those toiling things swimming behind a stranger’s eyes that could make you want to reach for a drink.