Review: Fall of the House of Usher at Arnos Vale Cemetery

By Edward Boileau, Third Year Computer Science and Amaan Ali , Co-Editor in Chief

Red Rope Theatre Company’s production adapts Edgar Allen Poe’s short story of the same name, telling the tale of Edgar (an unnamed narrator in the original) visiting the home of his childhood friend, Roderick Usher. Upon his arrival, he finds that his friend, the house, and Usher’s sister Madeleine are wasting away, apparently afflicted with a family curse.  

Matt Grinter, who adapted the original tale for this production, has significantly fleshed out Madeleine, Roderick, and Edgar. We learn of Roderick and Edgar’s friendship as children, and the reasons that they drifted apart. Roderick and Madeleine’s father, a strict and powerful man, is regularly brought up as the play explores the wildly different emotions that the characters feel about their shared experiences in childhood.  

The atmosphere that the production created was genuinely like no other play we’d seen. As we walked through the dark cemetery by moonlight and entered the little chapel where the play was to be performed, I felt like we were in our own little world. The crowd was small – there were only about 80 seats – and quiet as we came in, and the excellent sound design maintained the immersive atmosphere, filling the intimate performance space with the sounds of cold winter winds, gently hooting owls, and the soft creaks of an old mansion. 

With such a small cast, it was inevitable that the adaptation would demand a lot from the three actors over the two-hour runtime, and the performances were excellent. Rebecca Robson’s Madeleine was ethereal but still frequently passionate and emotional. Danann McAleer initially portrays Roderick as vulnerable and perhaps regretful, but we soon see him spiral downwards into a pit of his own fear and superstition. Patrick McAndrew’s Edgar appears at first to possess unshakeable sanity and reason, but this is gradually broken down as the hopelessness and fear that is consuming his old friend Roderick begins to work its way into Edgar too. 

The production is one you should not miss, and Red Rope Theatre Company has again displayed that they are great at showcasing and performing stories masterfully. 

Photos courtesy of Craig Fuller