Murder By Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe, Jeffrey Hatcher

Name: Murder By Poe
Brand: Edgar Allan Poe
SKU: 9780822220527
Rating: 3.16 (23 reviews)

Murder By Poe Book Cover — Murder By Poe Cover

Highlights

Medium Cast

Female

Male

45 minsFlexible Cast SizeExterior SetAmerican Mystery

What readers are saying

Readers have mixed feelings about the play, with some enjoying its exploration of Poe's themes and symbolism, while others find it too overt and tedious. Many appreciate its suitability for community and high school productions, though a few criticize the execution and pacing. Overall, it provides an intriguing take on Poe's works but isn't universally praised.

Great script and storytellingPerfect for community theatresEffective use of technical elementsPacing feels dull at timesOvert and cursory adaptations

Synopsis

A dark and dreadful night.

A woman in white lost within a wood.

And the only shelter is a house full of murderers.

Mixing funhouse tricks, Grand Guignol and a deadly game of cat and mouse, MURDER BY POE is a theatrical reimagining of some of Edgar Allan Poe s most famous tales of terror "The Black Cat," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "William Wilson," "The Purloined Letter," "The Mystery of Marie Roget" and "The Fall of the House of Usher."

As each haunted figure tells a story of crime and mayhem, the woman must solve the puzzle of the house and the riddle of the man who ushers her into its mysteries.

Press Reviews

"Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher guides us into the House of Poe, a dark space with as many rooms as there are tales. Doors and cabinets open to reveal corpses, weapons and every detail of the crime scene…These murderers and victims take the stage like figures from our nightmares. They describe and reenact their stories as if the theater were a laboratory and we were students watching humans turn themselves into experiments."
— The New York Times