Generally, a play is a thing in itself. Watching it can stimulate further thought about the ideas that exist within it, and that’s satisfying in itself. But I defy anyone to be satisfied after viewing The Casebook of C. August Dupin, adapted from Edgar Allen Poe’s seminal trilogy of the first detective stories…. ever! Perhaps you, like me, never even considered that there was a time before detective fiction, inundated as we are now by the genre. And I probably would not have given another thought about the matter before seeing Theatre Forty’s original production of The Casebook, adapted and directed by John Strysik.
You’ll recognize the familiar name, Edgar Allen Poe, who originally penned the three tales compiled in this play. What seems formulaic about the relationship of Dupin (played by Michael Mullen) and his side-kick, Edgar (Patrick Grant), was actually created by Poe and serves in the play as a means to move between past and present in all the situations that Dupin adeptly resolves through what Poe termed, “ratiocination,” a mode of deduction that involves, along with simply examining the crime scene, noting “what has occurred that has never occurred before.”
John Strysik brings a considerable background in suspenseful fiction to his adaptation, from writing a tome about H.P. Lovecraft to directing episodes of Tales from the Darkside for television. But it’s no mean feat to condense three complicated mysteries into a single evening. What’s more, there is the challenge of coaxing all three scenarios onto a single setting, decorated in this case in a bold, 60-ish, pink and orange triangular design (by Jeff G. Rack).
In the first episode, “The Murders at the Rue Morgue,” Dupin is called upon to solve a double murder that took place in a locked room. Since the culprit is an unusual assailant (especially for 1841, when the story was written), the crime and its solution are doubly intriguing, especially when a sailor (Randall Craig) comes around looking for his pet orangutan! This and the subsequent murders pits Dupin against an officious police commissioner, portrayed by Todd Andrew Ball.
The second story, “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” was based on a true crime that, paradoxically, was never resolved. In Poe’s telling, however, Dupin uses his abilities of deductive logic to resolve her murder. In the staging, the ghostly figure of drowned Marie (played by Isabella DiBernardino) wafts across the stage as Dupin describes her murder.
After a break, the audience is ready for “The Purloined Letter,” the third of Poe’s stories. Unlike the first two, involving death and destruction, here Dupin is more participatory, pitting himself against a dishonest minister of the state (Danny Minshall) to come up with a missing letter that is at the heart of a plot to blackmail the Queen, (Isabella De Bernardino), this time well-coiffed (by Judi Levin) and magnificently garbed by none other than Michael Mullen (costuming). As always, Theatre 40’s intrepid lighting (Derrick McDaniel) and sound (Nick Foran) are seamless.
The Casebook of C Auguste Dupin continues at Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles, 90068, Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm through October 18th, 2026. All Tickets, $35. For reservations, call (310) 364-0535, with online ticketing: https://theatre40.org.
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