Mairi Babb is back in the world of spooky stories and happy haunts acting in Eldritch Theatre’s production of “The House at Poe Corner.” I’m so thankful to get to interview Mari once again about this new adventure this year, where she will be puppeteering some of your favourite Disney characters (though there is no relation mentioned…for copyright purposes). Mairi is such a delightful person and talented performer, and I was so excited to ask her questions about the spooky and the macabre what it’s like to be a puppeteer and who happens to be her favourite inhabitant of the hundred acre Woods.

1. Could you please introduce yourself to my readers as well as tell us about your role with The House at Poe Corner?

I think we last spoke when I was playing Kent in Shakespeare Bash’d’s King Lear with Scott Wentworth in January of 2023 – an absolute dream project! I’m a Toronto-based actor and director and I’ve been working with Eldritch Theatre since Space Opera Zero in 2018. I met Eric forever ago when we were both randomly working in Calgary. He was actually doing Dear Boss, – the show we just did a reading of. This was when I was still based in Winnipeg. But we kept in touch and reconnected over social media when I moved to Toronto in 2009 then finally found a project 9 years later! I grew up in Victoria, BC and went to Uvic, then moved to Winnipeg – which is where my husband Matt is from – and eventually landed here! We live up by the Danforth which we absolutely love. In House at Poe Corner, I play one of the narrators, Allen, and Eric plays Edgar. We share the puppeteering, song singing, and story-telling duties. I also play Poe Bear and his cursed companions Vilecat, Gloomhoof, and Nightfowl.

2. Has the spooky and macabre always been something that’s fascinated you?

Gosh – good question. I didn’t read Lovecraft or Stephen King or anything like that, but I love scary movies – I think because I can close my eyes if I get too scared watching a movie. You can’t do that with a book…because then you can’t see the words. In my body, fear and laughter are very close together and I love the delicious feeling of straddling that line. When we went to see “It 2” in the movie theatre there was one point that I didn’t get my eyes closed in time and I screamed full voice (which is quite loud), then immediately dissolved into giggles, then tears. It was a big day for me. But I love ghost stories and great Gothic tales and original fairy tales – the dark ones. I saw an incredible show in the West End called Shockheaded Peter – based on the Hoffmann tales, Der Struwwelpeter – with music by the Tiger Lillies. It was amazing. I had never read those stories before and they’re SO messed up. But the theatre was full of terrified children clutching their parents and LOVING IT!! I’m not sure children would have been allowed in here…it was really twisty. But I think there’s something about being scared in a safe space or with trusted humans, so you can learn to cope with fear…I don’t know. I love foggy nights and howling winds, and I really enjoyed dissecting things in biology.

3. The mashup of stories involved in The House at Poe Corner are so entirely different from one another! What’s it like getting to fuse these two genres into a performance?

This show makes me laugh so much because both parts of the mash-up are so familiar and well-known, so it sort of feels like explaining a fever dream when you combine them. You know, where you’re dreaming and everything seems normal and you’re in your living room having coffee, reading your book, then you turn and the bully from high school who you haven’t thought about for 20 years is cutting a hole in your couch because that’s where she keeps her cheese.

4. What’s your favourite part of storytelling through puppets?

I have so many favourite parts because it’s always so different!

In War Horse I loved the specificity of the wordless puppet storytelling – the intricacy of the breath in the puppet and how you could tell a story with an ear twitch or stomp or tail swish. Working with two other people to create one being was a beautiful challenge – checking in on how we were each day, playing a different part of the horse every show, breathing together, the intense focus it took to explore and be present and ready for anyone’s impulse at any moment. That show really reinforced my belief that if an audience is asked to become part of the storytelling magic (by forgetting about the 3 humans pretending to be a horse) then they feel more ownership of the show and their experience, and they become more emotionally invested. That’s part of the reason I think Eldritch shows really capture people – our audiences have to help build the world.

With these puppets, I find so much joy in the magnitude of emotion they let you explore – the audacity with which they move through the world. When I was a kid, I had a Wrinkle Dog puppet called Sasha and she always got to say WAY CHEEKIER things to my mum than I ever got away with. I had to be polite and well-behaved but Sasha never faced any consequences. We also get to transcend our physical limitations, break the laws of time and space. Doing that still requires discipline and focus. Even if you’re puppeteering a (from the character description) “morbid, obsessed, compulsive old bear”, you still have to have clarity and specificity. You can’t just be a depressive, chaotic, yelly murder stuffie. I love that kind of challenge.

5. What is your favourite story or poem by Edgar Allan Poe? And who is your favourite inhabitant of the Hundred Acre Woods?

For Annie – I love how it starts – you feel like the author is taking his first deep breath in forever. The combination of the visceral and the metaphorical. The dark vs. light. The devotion.

And how dare you make me choose! I feel like any of them can make me cry and laugh on any given day!!! My mum and Seane (Gaelic for grandmother) used to read Pooh to me all the time when I was little. On every bridge we encountered, we had to play Pooh Sticks. Matt and I had a Winnie the Pooh reading at our wedding….Ok, fine – today it’s Piglet.

I want to thank Mairi for taking the time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions. Make sure you check out “The House at Poe Corner” which runs at the Red Sandcastle Theatre April 11-21st. For more information and tickets, visit: https://eldritchtheatre.ca/poecorner/

For the record…my favourite is Eeyore!

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