The gently sweet sound of a ukulele and a sinister smile set the stage for this darkly delicious tale, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.

With a sometimes slow, but sinister, build, it follows Edgar Allan, an over-achieving and precocious boarding school student confident in his superiority until he meets a new classmate with whom he shares more than a few similarities.

A relationship develops between the two misfits that's both a strange friendship and a fierce rivalry.

Katie Hartman plays the loquacious Edgar with gawkish and malevolent glee, savouring the script's sharp writing. Nick Ryan's raspy-voiced turn as Edgar's rival is delightfully odd.

A dark comic treat.