Bedlam Theatre
25 Nov: 15:45
* * * *

As a self-respecting gothic tale, The Masque of the Red Death is a lesson in the dark and the macabre as can only be delivered by an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story. John Rushton and Stuart Young’s version written for this year’s Freshers' slots is a true reflection of the story’s essence, delivered by a cast adept at channelling the script’s satire, without overwhelming the play's sinister undertones.

Published in 1842, the original is an excellent amalgamation of Poe’s favourite topics, namely pestilence, death and the supernatural. A plague known as the Red Death sweeps the country; killing within the half hour in a manner befitting one of the gothic heavyweights (symptoms, if you are curious, include sharp pains and profuse bleeding of the pores).

Prince Prospero, ever the stereotypic toff, decides to distance himself from these inconvenient matters and instead sets up camp at one of his abbeys. There he whiles away the time in relative seclusion excepting the company of a select band of fellow upper-class twits. It is here where we join the action, the premise of the play having been elegantly set up as a series of wireless broadcasts.

By setting the events in the roaring twenties, Rushton and Young give The Masque of the Red Death a refreshing originality. Miriam Early’s quirky choreography adds a dynamic feel that breaks the constraints of having no set and provides a strong introduction to a solid performance.

A lot of Poe’s imagery is now so famous that in the wrong pair of hands it runs the danger of becoming clichéd, but in this case the play never encounters such problems. Instead, a skilled cast create scenes that snap back and forth from the light hearted to the disturbing, aided by stage directions that reinforce the abbey’s oppressive claustrophobia.

A neat and confident performance, The Masque of the Red Death ticks the many boxes of a freshers' slot production; originality, skill, and most of all, potential.

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