Gorey Stories, Blindfaith Theatre, at Angel Island. What better season for a show based on stories by Edward Gorey, master of overcast skies and morbid mirth? Best known for The Gashlycrumb Tinies (26 letters, 26 quaintly gruesome child deaths) and the Mystery! series titles, author-illustrator Gorey offers the perfect example of metaphorical form: just as his ghostly manors seem to float on a sea of darkness, a taciturn Death lurks behind his starkly lit vignettes, waiting for the characters to stray beyond their edges. That sense of fatality will challenge a stage presentation, as will the 3-D rendition of a 2-D pen-and-ink drawing. But in this musical adaptation of 18 stories, Blindfaith resists bowdlerization, instead applying its formidable talents to a faithful treatment. Letting the work speak for itself is absolutely the right call.
