LINCOLN PARK: Buntport Theater has been presenting brilliantly clever original productions for over 16 years, with their earlier works focused more on comedy, and more recent work somewhat darker and more serious, but still containing a comic thread. Their latest production, Edgar Allan Poe Is Dead, and So Is My Cat, returns to their funny roots, but still manages to make the audience think about the nature of life, and especially what it takes to make life meaningful.
Edgar Allan Poe Is Dead, and So Is My Cat starts with the burial of a cat (though there is some question of whether it is a funeral, or even an event, and whether there will be snacks available). We met That One Guy (that is the way the character is identified in the program), who is obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe. He emulates Poe, does a podcast on everything Poe (which he calls a “Poedcast”), and emulates Poe in every way possible, including eating at Boston Market, because Boston is where Poe was born. He buys a suit at thrift store, so he can wear “another man’s suit,” just as Poe apparently did a few days before he died. This is all incredibly annoying to his sister, whose cat has just died. When (spoiler alert) the discarded suit comes to life, things get really interesting.
As is always the case, the five members of Buntport jointly wrote, directed, designed, and deliver the show. It is full of many funny little bits that constantly pop up, but all are part of story that is engaging, with twists and turns that are funny at a deeper level as well as surprisingly thoughtful and interesting. The staging is fairly simple and direct, with much of the action in the yard of a house that curiously has no doors. The show also includes effective use of awkward silences that add a strange sort of tension to the humor.
The cast (the onstage members of Buntport) brings to life fascinating yet absurd characters. Brian Colonna is That One Guy, over the top in his obsession with Poe, unable to conceive how those around him may not hold the poet with the same reverence he does. Hannah Duggan is His Sister, almost constantly annoyed with him, in a very natural, sisterly way. Duggan also opens up nicely as the show progresses, but never loses that caustic “sisterness.” Erik Edborg is the congenial His Best Friend, jealous when Colonna’s attention goes elsewhere. Erin Rollman is paradoxically the most reasonable of the characters as Burt, the suit, expressive and articulate.
The set, lighting, and costumes, designed by the 4 cast members listed above and SamAnTha Schmitz, are integrated into the production well. The set, a simple brick wall, enables some extra silliness, having no normal doors, but with functioning windows. The costumes add some nice bits of humor, and the lighting is well controlled and illuminates well.
Buntport always delivers comedy with meaning, and Edgar Allan Poe Is Dead, and So Is My Cat is no exception. This show does focus more on the comedy (by design), but they can’t help themselves; there is also some important, and dare I say profound stuff here about relationships, about art and its creation, and about the importance of making life notable. By inserting the absurd into an otherwise normal world, it makes the normal absurd, allowing the characters to become uncommon. But mostly, it is just really funny.
If You Go…
Edgar Allan Poe Is Dead, and So Is My Cat runs through November 18 at Buntport Theater, 717 Lipan. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 3:00 pm, with an extra “pay-what-you-can” performance on Monday, November 6. Tickets are only $18 in advance, $20 at the door, with a $3 discount for students and seniors. For information and reservations call 720-946-1388 or visit www.buntport.com. Buntport continues their popular comic Great Debate series on the third Tuesday of each month (with BuntportTED Talks occasional replacing it), along with the wonderful ongoing all-ages pirate/myth series Siren Song, on the second Saturday of each month. Buntport’s next original show (their 46th) will open in early 2018, and they will be bringing back My Quest to Gallantly Recapture the Past in the spring.
Craig Williamson, November 2, 2017, North Denver Tribune