Lovecraft's Monsters, The Wee Pub

No so-called ‘horror writer’ ever overwrote like the late Rhode Island hermit Howard Philips Lovecraft. Some connoisseurs of classical literature would regard Lovecraft as an absurd joke. However, for those of us with a bent for such work, Lovecraft remains after 67 years virtually unparalleled. It was a pleasant change to see an older performer at the Fringe doing something a little different – a change from young men talking about knobs.

American actor David Crawford ('Dawn Of The Dead') presented his one-man show about Lovecraft with true passion and affection, in what only be described as a confined space, in this case the Wee Pub (still better an audience in a small space than no audience in a large place). Crawford gave us a fair picture of the troubled and politically dubious Lovecraft. Mainly drawing his source material from Lyn Carter’s brief bio from the early 70’s and the author’s novella ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’. Crawford presented a fair picture of the troubled author (who died at the relatively young age of 47).
Crawford’s accent would seem appropriate (posh American), although one wonders what Lovecraft actually sounded like, this sounds right. Crawford himself hails from Pittsburgh, which is nowhere near Rhode Island. Is was a subtle performance and never went over the top.

Crawford, gentleman that he is, even asked the audience after the show if they had any suggestions as to improvement, seeing how his Lovecraft’s Monsters is a new addition to his repertoire. This of course was left the Lovecraftians in the audience.

I enjoyed Lovecraft’s Monsters and there sure were plenty of them, least of all those who haunted the man himself. That said, some accompanying visuals (like a scary Cthulhu puppet) wouldn’t have gone amiss! A treat also for the uninitiated!