The Fall of the House of Usher

=== Being edited === 10 March 2020.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe.

The original tale by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is an original short story by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)[1], dealing with issues of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities. It was first published in 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, and later included in the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840) (Wikipedia[2])

Stage and film adaptions relevant to South Africa

The Fall of the House of Usher a stage play by Steven Berkoff

The Play

Adapted by Steven Berkoff (1937-)[3] to a stage play with the same title.

Performance history in South Africa

1985: Presented by CAPAB Drama at the Nico Malan Arena, first performed 18 April 1985. Music, mime and voice were a integral part of this production. Cellist Angela Paynter played from a score composed by Péter Louis van Dijk. Direction and design by Marthinus Basson, mime coreography and coaching by Chris Goetsch, lighting by Pieter de Swardt. Members of the cast were David Dennis, Jennifer Steyn and Romano Gorlei.

1999: A Rhodes University Drama Department production was directed by David Alcock and Gary Gordon for Graduation in March 1999, with Brink Scholtz as Madeline Usher, Matthew Roberts as Oswald and Rob Murray as Roderick Usher.

2012: The Mechanicals' staging of Graham Weir and Christopher Weare's reworked version of the Edgar Allan Poe short story 'The Fall of the House of Usher will be staged at The Little Theatre in Orange Street, Cape Town until June 16.

Sources

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095332/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

Theatre pamphlet

Photograph of the cast of the 1999 production held by NELM: Photograph collection [Collection: Rhodes University. Drama Department]: 2008. 51. 11. 4. 4.

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