Friday, October 23, 2009

Poe-Dunk: "The Cask of Amontillado"

The second story for Poe-Dunk is a short story from 1846 "The Cask of Amontillado."

Following is a summary edited from a longer piece by Sparks Notes:


The narrator, Montresor, opens the story by stating that he has been irreparably insulted by Fortunato, and that he seeks revenge. He decides to use Fortunato’s fondness for wine against him. During the carnival season, Montresor approaches Fortunato. He tells Fortunato that he has acquired something that could pass for Amontillado, a light Spanish sherry. Fortunato is anxious to taste the wine and to determine for Montresor whether or not it is truly Amontillado. Fortunato insists that they go to Montresor’s vaults.

The two men descend into the damp vaults, which are full of the dead bodies of the Montresor family. The men walk into a crypt, where human bones decorate three of the four walls. The bones from the fourth wall have been thrown down on the ground. On the exposed wall is a small recess, where Montresor tells Fortunato that the Amontillado is being stored. An intoxicated Fortunato goes to the back of the recess. Montresor then suddenly chains the slow-footed Fortunato to a stone.

Montresor begins to wall up the entrance to this small crypt, thereby trapping Fortunato inside. Fortunato screams confusedly as Montresor builds the first layer of the wall. The alcohol soon wears off and Fortunato moans, terrified and helpless. As the layers continue to rise, though, Fortunato falls silent. Just as Montresor is about to finish, Fortunato laughs as if Montresor is playing a joke on him, but Montresor is not joking. At last, after a final plea, “For the love of God, Montresor!” Fortunato stops answering Montresor, who then twice calls out his enemy’s name. After no response, Montresor claims that his heart feels sick because of the dampness of the catacombs. He fits the last stone into place and plasters the wall closed, his actions accompanied only by the jingling of Fortunato’s bells.

As I said last week, the photos seem self-explanatory, but I've added a few comments.

I again began with a box of penny matches (2 1/16" x 1 3/8" x 1/2"), giving it a quick base coat of white. Wanting each of the Poe-Dunk shows to be flipped over to look like a normal box of matches, I only painted the two sides of the matchbox. The set pieces have been painted in acrylic on the matchbox itself or on poster board.

Because I didn’t want to handle every story in the same manner, I decided not to use the matchbox as the playing area. Instead I painted it as the wall that Montressor builds to hide Fortunato in the catacombs.


The action of the story is set against a folding backdrop. The catacombs are made of eight 2” x 1 ¼” poster board panels. I used white cloth tape to hold the panels together and built it to fold accordion style.



Below are Montresor and Fortunato. The characters are painted with acrylic on watercolor paper and mounted on penny matches with Elmer’s Glue.


After I finished the figures I decided that I wanted a small bottle of wine for them to share as they make their way through the vault. I mounted the bottle to a piece of brass wire in order for the characters to be able to pass it back and forth.


Below are more detailed close ups of the catacomb backdrop.




I added another piece of brass wire to the final two panels of the scene so that Montressor was able to chain Fortunato to the wall. Below you can see how the matchbox wall is build up around Fortunato.



The last photo shows how all the pieces pack up into the matchbox. Unlike the castle in “Annabel Lee,” this time the scenery and actors all fit into the matchbox.

Next week: "Theatrical Rats."

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