By Ernest Kearney — One of the joys of seeing a play like A Dream At the End of Time is the reminder of what five actors, a director, a composer and a playwright-slash-librettist with minimal resources are capable of accomplishing when the necessary measure of talent is present within the mix.
In selecting a basis for their musical, Thomas Barrett Blakeley (book & lyrics) and Duncan C.B. Smith (music) have chosen one of the oddest of all H.P Lovecraft’s short stories, The Quest of Iranon.
Lovecraft (1890-1937) is best known for his weird horror tales of slithering, unspeakable monstrosities; the “ancient gods” of the mythos of Cthulhu with their slimy tentacles who, when awakened, spells the doom of mankind. Stories such as At the Mountains of Madness, The Dunwich Horror and The Colour Out of Space are guaranteed to keep any reader from enjoying a good night’s sleep.
The Quest of Iranon is different from the bulk of Lovecraft’s canon. It is not a tale of terror, but a fable of a wandering minstrel, Iranon (Brendan Lynch) in search of Aira, a great city of which, he claims, he was once prince.
The Lovecraft story is unique on two counts, first it shows the influence on Lovecraft by the Irish writer Lord Dunsany (1878-1957) and secondly, the story is somewhat self-reflective; a rarity for the creator of Cthulhu and his minions, in that Iranon can be interpreted as a cautionary tale concerning an artist being overwhelmed by his art.
Blakeley has expanded on Lovecraft’s rather sparse narrative to good effect, fleshing out both his relationship with Ramnod (Thomas Winter) —(the youth who is so beguiled by Iranon’s tales of Aira that he leaves his life to join him in his quest)— and other barely mentioned Lovecraft characters.
Blakeley’s book is clever and amusing at times. And the songs produced by he and Smith display, both, intelligence and craft, and fulfill all the requirements of any successful musical.
The cast, Lynch, Winter, Mark Lopez, Robbie McDonald and effervescent Amazing Oakes each have their moments to shine and they shine very nicely. Director Matthew Toronto has given the production a look and feel comparable to The Fantasticks and is ably assisted in this by Jenn Kuberka (set designer) and Emma Armstrong-Muntner (costume designer).
The finished product gives great credit to all involved, and also shows great promise for the individual artists.
A GOLD MEDAL
A Dream At the End of Time
Played durng Hollywood Fringe Festival 2022
Learn More at linktr.ee/iranon
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