By Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus
The Grade 9 drama class will be presenting a dark comedy on Wednesday, December 14 and Thursday, December 15 at the Performing Arts Centre.
The works of Edgar Allan Poe are bone-chilling, dark, depressing — nevermore, quoth the raven! — however this skillful adaptation takes a grand mix of Poe’s writing and characters and weaves them together into a teen-savvy comedy loosely based on The Fall of the House of Usher but with more laughs and a much brighter ending.
After the bus breaks down on a dark and stormy night, a bunch of high school students on a field trip are forced to spend the night in the spooky house of Usher. But they’re not alone!
The spirits of Usher ancestors haunt the halls, cursed to stay trapped in the house forever, unless someone helps the last surviving Usher find the will to truly live life. Along with a healthy dose of entertaining teen drama, Usher touches on some weighty issues that haunt the nightmares of most teens — isolation, loneliness, suicide, and peer pressure. But lighten up! It’s a comedy after all! With characters drawn from classics such as The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell Tale Heart, Annabel Lee, and some lesser-known works, there are countless winks, nudges, and nods to the Master of Horror. The House of Usher doesn’t fall at the end in this show, but Usher will bring down yours!
Please Note: Due to the dark nature of some of the content, this play is NOT recommended for anyone under 12 years of age (Grade 6). There is no violence or swearing.
Doors open at 7 pm, and the curtain rises at 7:30.
Tickets are available at the door. Adult admission is $10 and students get in for $5. Donations to the Food Bank will be gratefully accepted and appreciated.
