Description
This short play is intended to be performed alone or as part of a larger revue. There are other short Edgar Allen Poe adaptations available on this site as well as the complete collection called ‘Raven about Poe’.
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a play based on the short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It is relayed by a young man called ‘Wilson’ who endeavors to convince the audience of his sanity while simultaneously describing a murder he committed. His victim was an old man with a filmy “vulture-eye”, as he calls it. Wilson emphasises the careful calculation of the murder, re-enacting it throughout the play, before hiding the body under the floorboards. Ultimately, Wilson’s feelings of guilt, or a mental disturbance, result in him hearing a thumping sound, which he interprets as the dead man’s beating heart.
Downloadable file is in Microsoft Word and PDF format.