Catalyst Theatre's Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, March 11-14 at Kay Meek Centre. Tickets: $25/$42/$50. kaymeekcentre.com
Taking in a performance of Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe as part of the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, Gaelan Beatty was so blown away he made a vow to one day be part of a future production with the presenting theatre company.
"When the lights came up at the end of the show, my girlfriend and I were sitting in the fifth row I think, and everybody else left and we were just still sitting in our seats because it had been such an amazing experience to be a part of," he says. "She turned and looked at me and said, 'wow' and I turned and looked at her and said, 'I have to work with these people.'"
Beatty was pleased then, when four years later he got an opportunity to work not only with Edmonton, Alta.-based Catalyst Theatre, but on the same show, described as "a whimsical and chilling musical fairytale for adults," centred around the literary great.
"It's been happily fantastic, and a bit of a challenge because I'm the only new person. The other six members of the cast have been with the show for five years, so I had a big job to do in three weeks to try and pick up the entire show. So that was a bit challenging. I didn't get nearly as much sleep as I needed during that time period, but it was a really, really fantastic experience," he says.
Beatty came on board with Nevermore for Catalyst's current tour. The company just wrapped a run in Edmonton last week and is staging the production in Vernon tonight.
The play, created by Cataylst's artistic director Jonathan Christenson and resident designer Bretta Gerecke, merges fact and fiction in a homage to Poe's life and work. The show incorporates pieces of the writer's famous works - The Tell-Tale Heart and The Raven included.
Beatty takes on a number of roles throughout, his main being Poe's older brother Henry, "a wannabe adventurer," he says. "His impact on Edgar's life was that he was. ... the weird dichotomy of being a huge optimist but also very melancholic. He would get down when he got down. He would get very, very sad, but when he wasn't sad, he thought that he was going to travel the whole world being the greatest adventurer ever, so he represented both hope and despair in Edgar's life," says Beatty.
In addition to its literary focus, Nevermore has a strong visual esthetic, seeing cast members dressed in surreal costumes, complete with dramatic makeup and hairstyles. For example, Beatty's hair is sculpted into a full five-inch fan mohawk at one point.
Beatty encourages Lower Mainland residents to take in an upcoming performance.
"It is so worth it to see this show," he says. "I was so blown away by this show back in 2010 and if anything it's a much stronger piece now."
Following Nevermore's current tour wrap, Beatty will have a two-week break, then will head to Regina, Sask., for a three-week run of Man of La Mancha at the Globe Theatre.
