Theater

 

WICKED LIT

REVIEWED BY JOAN PINE 

 

What a great Halloween Treat!

 

Three classic horror stories were dramatically adapted into three staged plays, kicking off the first annual Wicked Literature Halloween Festival at Greystone Mansion. Paul Millet and Jeff G. Rack, along with THEATRE 40 and THE NOM DE GUERRE THEATRE GUILD made it all possible.

 

And what better place for a scary, scary night of PIGEONS FROM HELL, written by Robert E. Howard, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, by Edgar Allan Poe and THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW by Washington Irving.

 

The night we went was one of the few cold and windy nights in Southern California.  Trees were down and it was so dark that we couldn’t see the street signs. We were the last to arrive and this ‘fella’ approached us with a flashlight and said that he was a guard and would walk us down below.  Humm!

 

There was a big crowd milling around and we were divided into three groups, depending on the color of the dot on our program. We had a blue dot, so we followed the actress holding the blue ping-pong paddle.  It did not matter which play you saw first, because eventually you would see all three.

 

There are so many big rooms at Greystone, with high ceilings, black and white floors, fireplaces and mirrors that throw long shadows against the walls, that you dare not wander too far from your group. There was even a murder here many years ago.

 

Our first play was PIGEONS FROM HELL!  Two drifters decide to ‘camp out’ in an old abandoned mansion in Louisiana. The opening scene shows them both sleeping in their sleeping bags on the floor. David (Jason Guess) wakes up and tries to wake his friend John (William Joseph Hill) but he won’t wake up…because he is dead and covered with blood.  The caretaker, the one who led us down the garden path and is played so believably by Michael Forest (we believed him), accuses David of the murder. We followed the group, from the room and up the stairs, then to a wide hallway, then down…then…up and down again.  Suddenly, in the silence you hear the flutter of pigeon wings and it gets louder and more demanding. This play was a little long and convoluted. There is a surprise ending, however, by Diana Hale who played Zuvembie. This play was adapted and directed by Jeff G. Rack.   

 

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, adapted and directed by Paul Millet, starred Nate Larson as Nathaniel, Christine Joelle as Madeline Usher, and John Woodward-Kirby as Roderick Usher. Generations of the Usher family have lived in this house and now only Madeline and Roderick are left. He has called his childhood friend Nathaniel to help sort out its mysteries.  There was too much fluff and not enough story until the last few scenes upstairs in the bedroom -- and then it ended abruptly! 

 

My favorite play was THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, adapted by

Jonathan Josephson, and performed entirely outside in a park-like setting. We actually stood on a staircase for most of the production until we moved to another level. All of the actors were excellent, including Shelby Kocee as Katrina, Richard Large as her father, Shawn Savage as the suitor, and David Reynolds as everyone else. Ichabod (Brian David Pope) is the school teacher who has his eyes on the daughter of the large land owner -- but she loves another! There is a folk-tale in that part of the world about a man who rides on a fiery horse from hell and is known as the Headless Horseman. Our group now moved up to another area to hear the hoofbeats of that horse coming towards us down that long, empty road, just in time to ‘see’ the headless horseman throwing his pumpkin head at Ichabod Crane. It was exciting. The voice-over added the tidbit of … “and Ichabod Crane was never to be seen again!”

 

This was the best play, but the entire experience of walking around the mansion and being part of the drama was a novel way to spend Halloween. Watch for the program for next year and call THEATRE 40 at 310 354 0535 for other tickets or go on line at www.Theatre40.org and receive their brochure.

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