First Folio's 'Poe' returns for fifth season of 'Madness'

First Folio Theatre's "The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story" is literally all over the place in locations and storytelling. But an emphasis on different writing styles is exactly the way that First Folio Theatre executive director and playwright David Rice has structured this site-specific play, a mishmash of the horror master's life and work.

Up front are recitations of poetry and dramatic realizations of short stories by America's pioneering 19th-century horror writer. Then, there's invented chatter between Poe (Christian Gray) and his doomed much-younger wife, Virginia (Heather Chrisler).

What makes the show stand out, however, is the general promenade concept, which divides the audience into groups to shuffle through spaces within Oak Brook's historic Mayslake Peabody Estate.

This is the fifth time First Folio has presented "The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe" since its 2006 debut, and it's easy to see why this work has been so popular. On one hand, a big helping of Poe is perfectly timed to give audiences chills throughout the Halloween season. And then there's the basic fact that the production functions as a historic house tour featuring a few rooms that would normally be closed off to First Folio audiences.

Individually, the pieces can be engaging. But as a whole, "The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe" can feel choppy and dramatically undeserving despite a number of strong performances overseen by director Alison C. Vesely. The shifts in writing styles and tone can be jolting as you go from macabre, floridly enacted poetry to fact-filled monologues of the type you would get from costumed guides at too-tidy historical village districts.

No doubt audiences are meant to draw parallels between Poe's own loss-filled life and his stories, where death lurks around the corner. The connection is made especially clear in certain tales where the actors portraying Poe and Virginia step into fictional roles, such as when they play Verdon Fell and Rowena in "Ligeia" opposite Leena Kurishingal as the tragic title character.

Not everything ties in so nicely to this central conceit - particularly dramatizations of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Pit and the Pendulum." These pieces feature two intense turns by Kevin McKillip (with an amusing cameo by Andrew Behling as The Constable) and are greatly enhanced by startling aural effects devised by sound designer Christopher Kriz. To leave out two of Poe's greatest hits would have been sacrilege to die-hard horror fans, but these pieces do not feel fully integrated into the show.

The abruptness of some of the vignettes also undercuts the connection that audiences might have built with the characters. Even in moments of great despair (Gray as Poe especially works himself into pained states of agitation and despondency), the effect on audiences might be more of admiration for the actors' craft rather than being emotionally moved by the plight of the characters.

Still, there is much to admire about "The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe" - from its ambition to the precise technical timing demanded by the moving crowds. So even if the overall effect is muddled, audiences can treasure the individual vignettes that are guaranteed to give you the shivers.