The Fall of the House of Usher

This adaptation of the classic Poe short story takes the challenging, haunting, somewhat oblique tale and casts it in the guise of a fast-moving 1930’s detective thriller, all the while maintaining Poe’s basic story of familial treachery and madness. The play opens with a young man being interrogated by a tough Boston police detective. The young man has been discovered cowering at the scene of a horrible fire which has destroyed the Usher mansion, leaving two unidentifiably charred bodies in its wake. As the plot unravels, we discover how this young man was involved in the collapse of the Usher estate, and we learn the family’s horrible secret. The scene shifts back and forth from the police interrogation room to the Usher mansion as the young man recalls and relives the chilling events of the past two weeks.

The play was premiered recently to standing ovations at the Summer Theatre of Mount Holyoke College.

Cast:

Michael Shaughnessy (40’s-60’s)

James Brookfield (mid-30’s)

Roderick Usher (mid-30’s)

Madeline Usher (mid-30’s)

Fiona (20’s)

Dr. Tremblay (50’s-60’s)

Claire (15)

Setting:

Boston, mid-1930’s. A police station interrogation room, and the sitting room of the Usher mansion. A unit set.

Read an EXCERPT

Available by contacting:

Baker's Plays, Boston/Quincy

jackneary3@aol.com