While Edgar Allan Poe is widely considered to be a literary genius and his works are still read today, the details of his life are shrouded in mystery.
“The line between fact and fiction, dreams and reality, life and death has always been blurry in the work of Poe. This was also the case in his life,” said writer, director and composer Jonathan Christenson, who as artistic director with Edmonton’s Catalyst Theatre is bringing Poe’s life and words to the stage in the award-winning production, Nevermore: The Imaginary Life And Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe.
Coming to the Vernon Performing Arts Centre March 7, Nevermore is Catalyst Theatre’s masterfully crafted musical fairytale that explores Poe’s tragic tale and the events that ignited his lifelong obsession with visions, both dark and sinister.
“It unfolds according to the logic of dreams, where the lines between his life and his work remain fluid and where, as Poe himself said, ‘all that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream,’” said Christenson.
Born in 1809 and orphaned at three, Poe was surrounded by death from an early age. While he achieved great success with publications such as The Raven, and short stories as The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe’s life was plagued by poverty, alcoholism, and the deaths of loved ones.
He died at the age of 40 after being found delirious and alone in the streets of Baltimore. While his death has been attributed to many causes, ranging from alcoholism to tuberculosis, the actual cause of his death is unknown.
It is known that while Poe was alive he deliberately re-created himself, revising the details of his youth or painting himself as an adventurer, said Christenson.
“Sometimes others reinvented him, as his arch-rival Rufus Griswold did when he wrote his own slanderous biography. And sometimes – not so deliberately – he was tormented by nightmarish hallucinations and haunted by memories that were no less real to him than the fact of his existence,” said Christenson.
It’s also difficult to read Poe’s work today without hearing echoes of his own tragic life.
“It’s equally tempting to believe his tales and poems offer insight into the man himself. It remains impossible, though, to ever know his full story,” said Christenson, “In the end, he will always, to some degree, be someone we create in our own imaginations – a mixture of fact and fiction.”
No stranger to horror, having produced Frankenstein in 2008, which toured to the Vernon Performing Arts Centre, Catalyst created Nevermore in 2009. Since its creation, the company has performed the play throughout North America and on Broadway in 2010.
The production is praised for its haunting score, surreal visuals, and poetic storytelling. It won seven Elizabeth Sterling Haynes awards in 2009 and two Betty Mitchell awards in 2011.
Tickets are $45 for adults, $42 for seniors and $40 for students and are on sale now through the Ticket Seller box office at 250-549-7469 or online at www.ticketseller.ca. The play is not recommended for children under 12.
