The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Recorded live at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon, The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre presents Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” streaming on WYPR just in time for the author’s 215th  birthday.

“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” introduced readers everywhere to C. Auguste Dupin, Poe’s brilliant French detective. The story created the detective genre and was the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.

Adapted for radio by Caroline Bennett and directed by Alex Zavistovich, this live recording features both live and recorded sound effects, with original music and sound design by James D Watson. With  the voices of  Adam R Adkins, David Hanauer, Jimi Kinstle, Melanie Kurstin, Jennifer Restak, and Alex Zavistovich.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue was made possible by the Enoch Pratt Free Library, RavenBeer, DC Dogs, the law offices of Faegre Drinker, the technology company Avaya, LINK Strategic Partners and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts.

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In this episode we celebrate the anniversary of Poe’s well-known poem “The Bells,” written in May 1848 and published posthumously in 1849. The Bells describes the cycle of adult life, from excitement to joy, to fear and ultimately to the sorrow and somberness of death.

Our celebration today features a performance from Baltimore’s Charm City Bronze Handbell Ensemble, and concludes with a very special reading of the The Bells by the renowned British actor Helen Atkinson Wood.

Founded in 2013 by Artistic Director Beau Lochte, the Charm City Bronze Handbell Ensemble’s arrangement of Erik Satie’s "Gymnopedie Number 1" features a distinctive sound of bells ringing then being submerged in bowls filled with water, creating a dizzying "bending" of the pitch.

Our featured performance is a reading of The Bells by noted British actor Helen Atkinson Wood. Ms. Wood is an actor and presenter best known for creating the character of Mrs. Miggins, in the classic BBC comedy “Blackadder.”

A West End stage actor and presenter as well, Helen Atkinson Wood has been twice nominated by the British Comedy Awards as Best Female Comedy Performer. She is also an award-winning travel writer.

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Season One Finale! This story has been adapted into several international motion pictures (including one as recently as 2008), and was the musical subject of the world-famous progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project. It is widely applauded as among the first works in American fiction to criticize the poor treatment of the mentally ill in the 1800s. As one of Poe’s best-known satirical efforts, the original story is available unedited in audiobook form on a wide range of digital platforms around the world.

 In 1903, The Theatre du Grand Guignol in Paris produced a gruesome black comedy adaptation of this famous and noteworthy Edgar Allan Poe story, which the author titled, The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether. The stage play was known in France as The System of Doctor Goudron and Professor Plume. We’ve translated this play from the original French, and adapted it specifically for audio drama (the original title is retained in this recording.)

We’ve called back some of our past season’s asylum characters in this one. Can you identify the episodes and any lines from those earlier programs?

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Madeleine Usher is alive, after all. In this episode, we listen back to the story of how she was mistakenly entombed, and how that was the beginning of the end for the Ushers and their ancestral home. Also, Doctor Mallard meets a stranger interested in learning more about the asylum. Only one more episode before this season comes to an end!

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Summoned to the aid of an old college friend, our protagonist embarks on a journey to a mysterious ancestral home and encounters not only the unfortunate friend but his frail and ghost-like sister.

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