Edgar Allan Poe: The Murders in the Rue Morgue

In Blue Orange Arts’ two-man adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue Alan Groucott & James Nicholas brought one of the earliest ‘detective stories’ to the stage. Poe’s character of C. August Dupin became the bases of the modern detective the likes of which inspired such characters as Sherlock Holmes, Mss Marple, and Jessica Fletcher.

Set in France in the mid-19th century Groucott and Nicholas’ costumes do a decent job of evoking the period without becoming distracting to a modern audience through true historic accuracy. Alongside a minimal use of set both actors command the stage, able to invoke the Paris backstreets and slums that Dupin and his acquaintance move through.

While the murders are described in Poe’s macabre style and no details are spared this adaptation does not come across as particularly horrifying, which makes it a rather good show for a younger audience who wouldn’t normally be sure about going to a performance based on the work of a notorious horror writer.

Attended 5 August 2024
Edinburgh FRINGE: Venue 43
Symposium Hall

It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic.

Blue Orange Arts:
Blue Orange Arts
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Blue Orange Theatre
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Further Reading:
The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe
The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe-Vol. II: Tales and Sketches | Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore
Poe's Revisions in The Murders in the Rue Morgue | Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore

Cast:
Alan Groucott
James Nicholas

Images taken from the Blue Orange Theatre instagram page