Review: Upon A Midnight Dreary by Last Act Theatre Company by Michael Meigs (Click here for full review) "....In contrast to those somewhat overstaged pieces, The Tell Tale Heart was direct, convincing and suspenseful. Poe's original is even shorter, at 2100 words, and it's a purely first-person narrative of a murder. Greg Klein's adaptation takes the principal concept -- the alarming and disorienting effect of heightened aural and visual sensitivity -- and develops it in a completely different context. An ordinary married couple suffers a mugging outside their apartment during which he is shot and she is wounded in the head. As they recover, we soon understand that Mary has begun to receive erratic amplification of sounds around her. Her husband brings in a physician -- or a psychiatrist? -- for consultations, but there's something not quite right about the man. Or is there? Karen Alvarado is intent throughout the increasingly unpleasant contacts with Travis Bedard, as the doctor's expertise and motivation come increasingly into question. At moments she -- and we -- seem to hear Bedard's thoughts, and there's a warning flicker of red light cast across the stage. Writer Klein and this cast raise the suspense, slash it literally with an attack, and resume the build. Inexplicably, husband John (Andrew Rodgers) brings this strange healer to live with them. The uncertainties and torment continue, culminating eventually in a crime, suppression and discovery in a perfectly pitched dénouement. The two adversaries deserve their applause, but so does director Micah Goodding." Comments are closed.
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