What I liked
I really enjoyed Stephen’s riveting performances, so intense in their delivery you could have heard a pin drop in the audience. Sound effects of the storm really enhanced the frightening experience.
What I didn't like
Wish I had been able to catch Part 1 to see the other two plays Stephen performed. I am sure they were just as great.
My overall impression
I have seen several productions of Poe poems and stories over the years. But none compared the artistry, intensity, and total immersion into his characters better than Stephen Smith. When I walked into the theater, he was sitting at a small and simple table composing a summary of the action sequence of an alcoholic who commits acts of great violence when drunk, often aimed at his beloved pet, a “black cat” devoted to him. Terrifying in the build up to the horrendous crimes he commits, for which he will pay the ultimate price the following day. Then after transforming into an elderly recluse with a bad eye in full view of the audience, he begins to bemoan the death of his beloved Lenore, then slowly falls into a terrorized victim of “The Raven” who torments him with a single word…. for eternity. The two pieces are related in that an animal in each one leads to the emotional undoing of the men telling the stories. And Stephen inhabits both of them brilliantly, his English accent raising the classy spookiness to the hilt.
