Nick Ryan and Katie Hartman made a brief appearance in Seattle this weekend as their company, The Coldharts, tours the US showcasing Edgar Allan. This two person musical, based on the childhood stories of Edgar Allen Poe, took to the stage this weekend.
Edgar Allan is a a demented sort of comedy, with Hartman staring as Edgar Allan, a highly unpleasant, maniacal, eleven year old with the goal to rule his boarding school through a mix of terrorization, manipulation, and excellent latin abilities. Hartman seems to be having the time of her life playing this role, grinning evilly while strumming a ukulele and dashing around the stage at a hundred miles an hour. At least until Edgar Allan meets his match in the form of…Edgar Allan. Nick Ryan plays the other Edgar, Hartman’s utter opposite. Ryan in this role is Hartman’s perfect foil, his character is soft-spoken (a speech impediment which Ryan portray’s with a scratchy, multi-pack-a day voice) calm, and acts with a sort of withdrawn maturity that makes his moments of emotional sincerity all the sweeter. The two develop into a consistent pattern of friendship in which Hartman is awful to Ryan while Ryan consistently forgives his friend anything, and the enduring contrast between Hartman’s over the top antics and Ryan’s understated irony makes for an easy base of humour through the show’s short run time. While Hartman’s character is never quite likeable, even in moments of ukulele-accompanied vulnerability, and while the show’s ending both undoes the emotional progression of the narrative and toes the line of suspension of disbelief, it still makes for a charming night out.
Edgar Allan only had a two night run in Seattle. But info for further shows can be found here.