Edward Gorey

Funnies for Friday, Scaries for Saturday

Two shows this weekend!

This Friday the Magic Meathands return to the Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica for an hour of made-up funnies. We’re on the stage at 8 PM. Each $10 ticket is good for the entire night, which means that you can also see The Waterbrains at 9 PM and Mission: IMPROVable at 10 PM. Oh! And by the way, the Magic Meathands are now blogging!

Then Saturday night, things turn creepy to get you ready for Halloween. Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe and Gorey is at The Huntington Gardens in San Marino from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM. I’m in one of the Edward Gorey pieces. We’re bringing 5 Gorey works to life. This year, we’re debuting 2 new pieces. Come on out with your flashlights and explore the grounds. (Although it looks like it’s sold out, so hopefully you already bought your tickets.)

Bringing Edward Gorey’s comics to life

Me being creepy for Drama After Dark

For the third time, I’ll be performing several Edward Gorey stories for Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe and Gorey on Saturday, October 8. Click that link to buy tickets but do it soon because it sells out surprisingly fast every year. Tickets are $35.

The entire event is held all over the grounds of The Huntington. Bring a flashlight to make your way around and discover different performances of Edgar Allen Poe and Edward Gorey stories. At times creepy, at times funny, at times both at the same time, it’s a great way to get into the spirit of Halloween.

Edward Gorey combined his wicked prose with Victorian-looking cartoon sketches to produce a twisted and peculiar world of perpetual bad luck for its inhabitants. While his work seems to come from the 1890s, his work was created and published starting in the 1950s. He remained active right up to his death in 2000. He’s not typically considered a comics artist since his work was structured closer to childrens books (no word balloons, one image and text combination per page, no panel borders), but I think there’s room to argue that point since there are plenty of comic books and graphic novels that have used those elements.

Odd Couple from Edward Gorey's The Listing Attic

Excerpt from Edward Gorey's The Listing Attic

Corey Does Gorey: The Sequel

Two years ago, I got to perform in this wonderfully weird and disturbing night, and this year it’s happening again! It’s Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe & Gorey at The Huntington.

As before, I will appear as multiple characters inspired by various works by fellow New Englander Edward Gorey. We’ll be bringing to life three delightfully dark stories of his: The Dwindling Party, The Fatal Lozenge and The Listing Attic.

You’ll also be able to enjoy stories by Edgar Allen Poe while walking around the beautiful grounds of The Huntington Gardens. It’s a great way to kick off Halloween! Hopefully you’ve gotten your tickets because I’m told it’s already sold out! How cool!

LA Times calls Drama After Dark a Weekend Pick

Today’s Los Angeles Times calls this Saturday’s “Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe and Gorey” as a Weekend Pick:

Actors from the Guild of St. George troupe should scare the pants off you with a dramatic presentation of the stories of Edgar Allan Poe and Edward Gorey on the moonlit grounds of the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, natch. “Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre With Poe and Gorey” will feature more than a dozen works by the spooky pair, including “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” “The Gashlycrumb Tinies” and “The Evil Garden.” 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. 6-10 p.m. Sat. $25-$30. Recommended for ages 10 and up. (626) 405-2128, www.huntington.org.

It’s also listed in The Guide as a Best Bet:

Over a dozen chilling tales by Edgar Allen Poe and Edward Gorey will be acted out on the grounds of the Huntington: “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” “The Gashleycrumb Tinies,” “The Evil Garden” and more. The actors of the Guild of St. George promises to give you goosebumps. Not suitable for children younger than 10.

I’ll be there! Will you?

A rather odd couple

Here’s a little preview of what sort of oddities you’ll experience at Drama After Dark: A Night of the Macabre with Poe & Gorey: 

This is from Edward Gorey’s The Listing Attic, which is full of characters that range from murderous to lecherous to just plain peculiar. It is one of five Gorey stories we’ll be performing on October 18th at The Huntington starting at 6 PM. More details here.

Tickets are selling out fast, if they aren’t already, so call 626-405-2128 to make reservations. I hope you’ll be able to make it.

(Thanks to BookLust for the image scan.)

Corey does Gorey

I’ll be performing portions of Edward Gorey scenes for a Halloween show at The Huntington on Saturday, October 18. 

It’s a great show where you get to walk around and watch multiple shows of material by Gorey and Edgar Allen Poe. It’s a unique Halloween experience that’s been playing at The Huntington for 6 years. I’m very excited to be a part of it. I hope you can make it out! I’m told this event sells out every year, so be sure to call for tickets.

Reservation required: 626-405-2128. Tickets: $30. Click on the above image for the flyer.