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."

Poe-Dunk: "Annabel Lee"

I began work on the Poe-Dunk matchbox theaters because Playlab NYC had just finished up doing Professor Ralph’s Loss of Breath at the New York International Fringe Festival and I was looking for a new project I could work on alone. Originally I had conceived of combining my interest in tabletop theater with Shakespeare and creating a matchbox production of The Winter’s Tale. I wanted to take a practice run with some self contained Poe Stories, and Poe-Dunk was born.

The first story I tackled was Poe’s 1849 poem “Annabel Lee.” Here is the summary from Wikipedia:

The poem's narrator describes his love for Annabel Lee, which began many years ago in an unnamed "kingdom by the sea." Though they were young, their love for one another burned with such an intensity that angels became jealous. For that reason, the narrator believes, the angels caused her death. Even so, their love is strong enough that it extends beyond the grave and the narrator believes their two souls are still entwined. Every night, he dreams of Annabel Lee and sees the brightness of her eyes in the stars. He admits that every night he lies down by her side in her tomb by the sea.

The photos are pretty self-explanatory, but I've added a few comments about the choices I've made.


I began with a box of penny matches (2 1/16" x 1 3/8" x 1/2"), and gave it a base coat of white.

I only painted the two sides shown below of the matchbox. I wanted each of the Poe-Dunk shows to be flipped over to look like a normal box of matches. (Like so many of my self imposed rules, I will end up being pretty inconsistent about this as the project develops.)

The stage and set pieces have been painted in acrylic on the matchbox itself or on poster board.

I’m no artist, so almost everything you will see in the Poe-Dunk series has a visual reference. Because it might be of interest to see my swipe file, I include some of the images.

The kingdom by the sea came from a desktop wallpaper image that is readily available on many websites.

Annabel Lee’s final resting place was referenced from an image of the Macquarie Mausoleum in Scotland.

The angel in heaven above, and the demon down under the sea are separate pieces painted on poster board that can be easily added to or taken from the castle.

Below are the characters of Annabel Lee and the narrator. The characters are acrylic on watercolor paper and mounted on penny matches with Elmer’s Glue. Also pictured is the chilling wind that kills the young Annabel Lee.

The narrator’s dreams are illustrated on a strip of watercolor paper that rolls up inside the matchbox. The idea came from Lara Heit’s “Look for Me” which is part of The Matchbox Shows. “Look for Me” uses a similar visual to depict various animals and people fleeing a forest fire.

Below is the completed piece.

In the last photo, I wanted to show how all the pieces pack up into the matchbox. It turns out though that the castle is too big to fit into the box. It was the first time I broke my own rule that the shows each fit inside the stage, but it won’t be the last.

Next week: "The Cask of Amontillado."

Poe-Dunk: Introduction

When I started this blog, one of the things that I was eager to tackle was creating my own toy theaters. To that end I have been working on an Edgar Allan Poe based series of matchbox theaters. I am titling the collection Poe-Dunk. in the coming weeks I will share the building process of each matchbox adaptation.

Poe-Dunk is inspired by the matchbox theater sets that I got from Pollock's Toyshop and the work of Laura Heit. I recommend checking out the pictures and the video of The Matchbox Shows.

Odds 'n' Ends: Opéra de Paris

Here is where I take the opportunity to show off some of the toys and paper models I have collected, that are only tangentially related to tabletop theater.

Along with L 'Instant Durable's Métro de Paris, I picked up the card model of the Opéra de Paris in a gift shop back in the summer of 2004. I admit that my main reason for getting the model is because of the role the Palais Garnier plays in Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera.

The above picture of the uncut postcard (approx. 4 1/4" x 6 1/2") comes from Moduni. Below is a photo of my completed model.

The postcard is printed on a heavy card stock that makes it a little difficult to cut out the fine details like the golden statues at the front of the building. That said, my biggest challenge had to be three domes. The two smaller domes got the best of me and I was never able to get them shaped correctly and you can see in the picture that they look more like spiky crowns than actual domes.

As I mentioned in last month's post for the Métro, there are several designers for L 'Instant Durable's models, but I cannot find a designer to credit for the postcard.

Below is a photo of the actual Opéra de Paris. I hope that it will give you an idea of how well designed the model is even working at what might be 1/1000 scale.

Odds 'n' Ends: Day of the Dead

Here is where I take the opportunity to show off some of the toys and paper models I have collected, that are only tangentially related to tabletop theater.

This Day of the Dead retablo is about the size of a matchbox, the piece measures 2" x 1 1/2" x 1/2". The miniature skeleton, as well as the background details of the tree and moon were created with clay and hand painted. He is enclosed in a cardboard box with the detailing seemingly done in green ink.

A birthday gift from a former boss, bought as I recall in Manhattan at House of Cards & Curiosities, 23 Eighth Avenue (between Jane Street and West 12th Street).

Punch and Judy

I can't seem to find very much information about this particular theater.

Toy Theatre Company lists it as "Kaspartheater (4) No 2l5." However each of the other sides of the sheet are printed in a different language "Punchinello," "Guignol" on a third, and "Punch and Judy" on the fourth making it difficult for me to determine the country of origin and do more research. That said this is a 1984 reprint from the Phoenix Papieren Theatre located in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is printed on heavy card stock and measures 3 1/2" W x 2"H.

Because I started building these models before it ever occurred to me to take pictures of them, the image of the uncut sheet above comes from the Toy Theatre Company. The photos below are of my model.

As always if anyone has additional information about this or any of the other theaters posted here, please let me know, and I will update my posts.

Odds 'n' Ends: Métro de Paris

Here is where I take the opportunity to show off some of the toys and paper models I have collected, that are only tangentially related to tabletop theater.

L 'Instant Durable's Métro de Paris is a card model that I picked up in a Paris gift shop in the summer of 2004.

The above picture of the uncut postcard (approx. 4 1/4" x 6 1/2") comes from Moduni. The photo below is of my completed model.

L 'Instant Durable is a well known French publisher card model publisher. Their 3-D postcard models were all over Paris, and were easy to find. They publish more than 150 cards with 100 architectural models. L'Instant Durable offers nearly every famous French building like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Sacré-Cœur to name a few. They also publish card models from other European countries.

The postcard is printed on a heavy card stock that makes it a little difficult to cut out the fine details like the lampposts. I ended up splitting some bamboo skewers and gluing them against the back of the two lampposts to reinforce the sign as a whole.

There are several designers for L 'Instant Durable's models. Since the larger models are printed as books, it is easy to find who worked on each one, but I cannot find a credit for the postcards.

The 3-D card model is beautifully rendered and colored. To give you an idea of how well designed the model is I have included a photo of the actual Pigalle Métro station. (My apologies to the person who posted the original vacation photo online, but it was the best example I could find.)

I when I picked up Métro de Paris (station Pigalle), I also purchased the Opéra de Paris and will information about it shortly. Of course now I wish I had picked up more of the postcards.