Review
by Lisa Drostova for The East
Bay Express, published March
27, 2002
Happily
Ever After?
This
Fairy's Tale turns its head
BY LISA DROSTOVA
Once
upon a time, there was a magical
land, an enchanted place called
Berkeley, where, for some mysterious
reason, two theater companies opened
plays with serious fairy-tale trimmings
on the very same weekend. In this
land, an intrepid girl (we'll call
her Little Red Reviewer) set out
with a little sack of notebooks
and pens to see if she could catch
a genie, a giant, or at least a
decent scrap of dialogue for her
readers. What she found instead
were two odd and fun shows, less
than a block apart, that both play
with language and expectation in
very sophisticated ways while laying
on either the vaudeville -- Jules
Feiffer's Knock Knock at the Aurora
-- or the fantastic -- The Fairy's
Tail, a new Adam Bock romp presented
by the Shotgun Players.
The Fairy's Tail focuses
on a little girl who lives in a
town called St. Joveet with her
little brother and her momma and
her papa. That is, until a wicked
giant comes and steps on her house,
killing her whole family, not to
mention smushing all her precious
stuff. So she sets off on a quest
for revenge. Yes, it's a hero's
journey; there are riddles and terrible
swamps and beeyootiful princesses
and talking fish and so on. There's
even a narrator (Ana Bayat) with
the whole story-hour thing down:
the voice, the gestures, the flowing
clothes.
But it's Little Missy What's-Her-Face
and her boon companions Mrs. Piffle
and Norbert Longlegs who take command
of the story early on, insisting
on doing things their way (watch
how the line blurs and finally disappears
between narrator and narratees near
the end of the first act). And there
are morals, but they're not the
sort Bettelheim was talking about
when he deconstructed fairy tales
-- they're more important, like
"Don't put beans in your ears"
and "Don't make fun of the
junk in other people's purses, because
that junk might save your life."
You don't, however, have to look
all that deeply to get some real
stuff, like "Take responsibility
for what you make happen,"
"Revenge isn't all it's cracked
up to be," and "Go ahead,
come out of the closet."
The Shotgunners call this a fairy
tale for adults, but I think any
reasonably hip kid who can stay
up past 8 p.m. would enjoy it, even
if she didn't get all the jokes.
Concerned parents should note that
death is a recurring theme and a
character does use the word "crap,"
but the kids who went to the matinee
I saw seemed to handle it all just
fine. It sure looks, sounds, and
smells like a fairy tale -- there's
plenty of silly music (written by
Clive Worsley, Kristin Miltner,
and Bock), sparkly costumes (Valera
Coble), wacky dancing (Andrea Weber,
once again bringing us something
new and unexpected), and clever
puppets (Sylvia Dawkin) -- especially
the nimble mountain goats and the
giant squid. It uses the language
and structure of a fairy tale. But
how many fairy tales feature answering
machines, shower caps, and gay heroes?
The Fairy's Tail also gives
us an opportunity to enjoy the talents
of both longtime company members
and new faces. Beth Donohue shines
again as hell-bent heroine Little
Missy What's-Her-Face who isn't
taking guff from anyone, including
Katie Bales Frasinelli (No. 14 on
the Registry of Most Beautiful Princesses),
a survival-minded schoolteacher
fish (Reid Davis), the denizens
of the Fart Swamp, or the family-squishing
giant. And have I mentioned lately
how crazy I am about Trish Mulholland?
No? From what I've seen, Mulholland
can do anything, whether she's covered
in blood or a classic black and
white housekeeper uniform. Here
she's the ever-so-proper Mrs. Piffle,
who, through an unfortunate incident
with a box of knives, has managed
to lose her employers and so agrees
to join Little Missy What's-Her-Face
on her journey. Also very proper
(and easily distracted by pretty
flowers) is Norbert Longlegs (newcomer
Ty Blair) who through inattention
has just lost his beloved Ernie
(Andy Alabran). The cast is rounded
out by a sullen Flamingo Singer
(Kathleen Antonia) and the capricious
Wind (Kimberly Wilday).
There's a little irony here in that
Tail was supposed to be the glittery
first show in Shotgun's new theater
in the Gaia building. Stuff got
rearranged, shows shuffled, to make
it so. And then, just before tech
week, word came down that the new
space wasn't going to be seaworthy
in time for Tail to open. Fortunately,
the Rep's thrust stage was free,
so the show opened on time in the
latest in a long string of borrowed
spaces. After the Rep, Tail will
move to the UC Theatre and the Julia
Morgan. The Shotgunners have always
been peripatetic, but this is a
lot even for them.
eastbayexpress.com
| originally published: March 27,
2002
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Original article on the web at
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/issues/2002-03-27/theater.html/1/index.cfml
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