Theater Review: ‘Dark Tales’ Reveals The Creepy Side Of The Cape

 Summer on Cape Cod is over. It’s time to pull into a candlelit inn in Wellfleet, quaff a few, and tell some tales, maybe tall but certainly scary. 

 “Dark Tales Told on a Cold Autumn Eve,” by Jim Dalglish, co-directed by him and Jennifer Kangas, plays at the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans through Oct. 11. After that it moves to Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT) Oct. 16 to 19; Cotuit Center for the Arts Oct. 23 to 26; and The Provincetown Inn Oct. 29 and 30. One play in several venues is an innovative idea that ought to be considered by more producers of the excellent theater offered here on Cape Cod, and that surely would let more people see more theater.

 Just as “Dark Tales” literally will wander physically around the Cape, so the stories told within it happen at such places as Provincetown Harbor, White Cedar Swamp, Horseleech Pond, the Nauset Moors, Chatham Bars Inn, and a discreetly unnamed family compound in Hyannisport.

 “Before I wrote a word, I spent months researching Cape Cod history — poring over its ghost stories, legends and the fragments of culture that time has nearly erased,” recalls Dalglish in his program notes. “For creative inspiration, I turned to the masters: Edgar Allan Poe, E.T.A. Hoffman, Saki, Hawthorne — and to modern voices like Conor McPherson. I listened to old radio plays and contemporary ghost story podcasts from Ireland and the UK. My aim? To frighten, shock, educate, provoke — and maybe even titillate.”

 You’ll find a bit of all of those aims reached in this evocatively-lit play, which comes with a warning: “Dark Tales contains strong language and adult themes. The play is recommended for mature audiences.” Even the youngster who participates via a recording in the early part of the show was sent home before it ends, according to an announcement after the show.

 The beautifully-written play is acted out by an excellent cast.

 Taverner Sam Smith (Tate Seidewand) hangs out on the set even before the action begins. Then he’s joined by The Fisherman (Geof Newton), Maria (Bonnie Fairbanks), Tony (Jacob Rabold), Elliot (Ian Ryan), Dale (Matt Whelan), Lorelie (Dahlia Viprino), and Madame X (Sara Shatzel Fitzpatrick). The role of May is shared by Samantha McMahon and Denise Page on different dates, and young Mattie is voiced by Shepard Potash. 

 The creepiness of the Dark Tales resides not in monsters or UFOs or ghosts walking through walls, but in everyday human relationships — parent and child, a friendly neighbor, a casual hookup gone horribly, horribly awry. Dalglish does admit that “I became a bit obsessed with Scottish selkie myths and had to include them.” (Selkies are mysterious seal-people.) And he reaches into Greek mythology for a Charon-like character, who reminds at least some of the tavern’s patrons that the ferry across the Styx is now boarding.

 The actors certainly know how to command the stage. Shatzel Fitzpatrick, evoking John Singer Sargent’s painting as the character called Madame X, gets perhaps the best chance to do so as she tells her tale. As a result of her encounter with evil, “I lost everything,” and she names the things that she had so dearly wanted and that she thought she had obtained. But then, she realized that she also could add that “I lost everything — including fear.”

 And maybe that’s why we tell each other scary stories.

 That’s not to detract from any of the other actors, all of whom project superb skill and stage presence. As co-directors, Dalglish and Kangas keep the action going so fluidly, and the suspense builds so steadily, that it’s good that the 110-minute play has no intermission. First produced in 2018 at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, the play has been “reimagined” and “expanded,” according to publicity.

 “A place is alive only as long as its memories are,” someone says near the end of the play, and the Cape Cod represented here certainly has a long life ahead of it.

 “Dark Tales,” in addition to its presentation at four venues, is also produced in association with Helltown Players, which describes itself as “a collaborative of dramatists and theatre enthusiasts from the Outer Cape whose mission is to produce new plays written by Cape Cod playwrights.” Their website is helltownplayers.org. Tickets for all venues can be ordered there.

 Tickets for the Orleans performances (Oct. 10 and 11 at 7 p.m.) can be ordered through the box office at 508-255-1963 or via the website academyplayhouse.org/tickets. 

 Additional information can be found at artscapecod.org/event/dark-tales-told-on-a-cold-autumn-eve-2/.