Many a Flirt and Flutter

Throughout time, death and the erotic are dynamically connected. Both play with control and abandon, yearning, fear, vulnerabilities, fight, and vitality. It follows that burlesque would be naturally suited to Edgar Allen Poe’s macabre stories. Conceived and choreographed by Scarlett Folds, directed by Jesse Belle-Jones, and adapted by Sailor St. Claire, The Raven and Other Stories weaves together Poe’s gothic fictions into a singular story performed through 9 movements. 

The plot is an adaptation and collision of Poe’s short stories and poems, including “The Raven,” “Black Cat,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Domain of Arnhein,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” As written, these stories have different main characters that narrate the events through first person. In this adaptation, The Narrator, played by Miss Elaine Yes, assumes the identities of all the narrators into a single person, recounting to us their/his/her lifetime of dark secrets, calculated violence, death, loss of lovers, alcohol abuse, and madness. 

First we meet the Raven, performed by Keyes Wiley, who brings us into the lurid world of the play. As ravens can illuminate the thin line between life and death, Wiley’s captivating movement entices us towards our more sinister desires. As the titular character, the Raven engaged most directly with the audience, dancing into the aisles, moving right up to the edge of Theatre Off Jackson’s stage, and gazing into the dark with “many a flirt and flutter.” The fabric of their silky wings thrusts into the air as they spin and move through the floor, their body shifting and articulating to the syncopations in the music. 

The set, designed by Bella Rivera, is sparse but effective. White fabric arches and drapes in the air, with a single red circle in the center of the stage. The rest of the space is masked in black curtain and black floor, to create an otherworldly void that the ebony feathered raven ensemble slips in and out of, much like apparitions. Four empty portrait frames are suspended mid-air, with a clever fastening that allows them to split in half so that the actors behind the frame can step forward from the paintings into fully animated scenes. 

My favorite attribute of burlesque, along with the abundance of rhinestones, is how the performers wield their agency. I feel invited to play along with the journey of the tease, delayerings, and climactic reveals. Even when the content is intense or pushes past my own desires or personal taboos, I still feel willing to go where they are taking me because it is so clear that the performer is doing exactly what they want. During The Raven, there were a few moments where I found myself experiencing cognitive dissonance with the use of burlesque to portray death and violence, particularly when the characters became victims without agency.

In one of the first burlesque numbers, we meet Eleanora, performed by Ramona Rhapsody, in her death throes, as she is stripped of her clothing by the raven ensemble. We are cultured as a burlesque audience to clap and hoot the reveals and removals of clothing, but this solemn moment with Eleanora’s coughing body crumpling towards her final breaths did not seem to warrant celebration. Later on, we witness the Narrator repeatedly abuse Pluto the cat, played by Carson St. Clair, in a rather upsetting manner, followed by the accidental killing of Berenice, played by Onyx Asili. Perhaps that discomfort is intentional, as dark subject matter can bring up difficult feelings, and I’m sure that many reading Edgar Allen Poe’s work have had to contend with whether to turn the page on his enthralling chronicles.

I did not experience the same dissonance by the second act. Perhaps I had recalibrated after intermission, or perhaps it was a clearer commitment to camp that made our Narrator’s next two premeditated murders more palatable to watch. The music is lively and upbeat, and though the next two victims clearly do not want to be murdered, there is also a bravado in their performance and a twinkle of desire in their submission to the death. 

Fortunato, portrayed by Lulu La Lune, is lured into a catacomb by the Narrator’s false promise of a rare cask of Amontadillo. Folding the storytelling into the burlesque numbers, Fortunato sensually rubs the necks of wine bottles, releasing two silks for her ensuing lusty dance. But as with all the Narrator’s summoned characters, save for the Raven, introduction is quickly followed by demise. The Narrator binds Fortunato up with rope in a libinous game of capture. In the final moments, the pretense of the game is dropped and Fortunato’s eyes drop to reveal the sadness of betrayal. 

The Narrator has one murder left for us. We watch as Ellison, portrayed by Fosse Jack, is derobed, garment by garment. Ellison reaches and gesticulates with full-bodied emotion, jiggles their cheeks, and removes their silky necktie with such tenacity that it felt okay to celebrate as they were ripped apart. Even as the conspiracy of ravens tore his entrails out and tugged at them with carnal appetites, I found myself leaning in and wanting more. 

Noveltease Theater is more than a burlesque company that does theatre, or a theatre company that does burlesque. Because of their nerd-positive bookishness, burlesque and theatre expertise, they are able to create spectacles that tell the story in whatever form the story can take. Teasing out the depths of a story, literary analysis is much like burlesque. There are layers to uncover and nuance to discover. And in creating performance spectacle through their evening-length burlesque adaptations of famous texts, Noveltease explores stories that do more than entertain us. As we lean “deep into that darkness peering,” these stories can also hold even the underlying grief and madness, the horror, and the sensuous passions of life and death.

Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven and Other Stories by Noveltease Theatre ran Oct 10-18, 2025 at Theatre Off Jackson. Conceived & Choreographed by Scarlett Folds, directed by Jesse Belle-Jones, adapted by Sailor St. Claire. See the program HERE and learn more about Noveltease on their website.