Saturday, 7 June 2014

21st Century Poe: Moyamensing at Edinburgh Fringe: Press Release

Just pasting in press release for my show 21st CENTURY POE: MOYAMENSING - which comes to The Vault@Paradise Green this Edinburgh Fringe...

21st Century Poe: Moyamensing

The Vault @ Paradise Green 4 – 17 August 2014 (no show on 11th) 17.50, Tickets £8 / £6 conc.

Edgar Allan Poe - widowed, weeks to live, a little the worse for drink – finds things getting worse still as he is locked for the night in Philadelphia's Moyamensing Prison... where his worst nightmares are waiting for him. A little known but true incident from the closing stages of Poe's tragic life inspires Scottish playwright / storyteller Marty Ross' sequel to his sell-out show at last year's Fringe.

In last year's 21st. Century Poe, Ross reinvented three classic Poe tales in his uniquely visceral, wildly theatrical style. This year he takes on the persona of Poe himself, a desperate and drunken Poe keen to tell you the tale of his latest, strangest adventure. Poe left behind an account not only of his overnight incarceration in Moyamensing Prison, but also of the hallucinations he suffered therein: scenes and horrors to match anything in his fiction, from live dissection and cannibalism to a vision of a sublimely beautiful woman echoing more than one of the women he loved and lost. Ross has taken this as the basis of a psychological, metaphorical portrait of Poe that captures the inner life of the tormented genius as no conventional, realistic 'biopic' treatment ever could. Dark humour, surrealism, Gothic horror and stark tragedy promiscuously intermingle in a one man show that aims to outdo even the acclaim for last year's show....

2013 reviews:

Broadway Baby: Review by Gwen Sims-Williams (5 stars)
An insanely good piece of storytelling.... Ross is a master craftsman who never turns down the pressure, painting vile pictures and weaving a grotesque spell... Trainspotting meets Gothic horror…. The storytelling is utterly convincing... Ross’ violently impressive performance make this a heart-pounding triumph which demands appreciation.

3 weeks: Review By Katharine Wootton (4 stars)
Marty Ross delivers a bewitchingly good story that leaves a haunting reminder long after the lights have gone down.
*
Fringe Review: Reviewed by Donald C Stewart
This was visceral. Marty Ross is a compelling narrator and onstage presence. … left you thinking as well as reeling… An immensely entertaining ride that scared and shocked in equal measure – a fair ground ghost ride for the 21st Century….

The Scotsman - review by Claire Smith
Ross has a great aptitude for suspense and terror, and he hurls himself into his tale with energy and passion, in words which ring with the native Glasgow rhythm... an accomplished piece of work which builds towards a chilling conclusion.

MARTY ROSS is author of a string of BBC radio dramas, including the series The Darker Side Of The Border and the serials Ghost Zone and Catch My Breath. He is also the author of two Doctor Who audio dramas and an award-nominated Dark Shadows drama. Two new radio dramas will be produced by BBC Scotland this autumn, including a radio play version of Moyamensing, to be broadcast on Halloween after a live performance in Glasgow. He also performs widely and to great acclaim as a live theatrical storyteller.





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