Fringelog 2010: Fairy Tales Scratched ***1/2
This is the kind of play that results from a collection of improv actors writing a scripted play. Much like good improv, the play is hilarious because it is chock full of hilarious standalone moments. I couldn’t even count the number of times this play had the entire audience laughing uproariously at something happening on stage. A line that stood out for me, as being both funny and a defining line of the entire play, was “it’s eat or be eaten in the Enchanted fucking Forest!” There were much much funnier lines and sight gags, but that really covers the whole concept of a modern retelling of Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, and Jack and the Beanstalk complete with drugs, sex, murder, and every other sin under the sun.
Where it falls short, though, is in the frame story around all those hilarious moments. The mashup of those three stories into one is, unfortunately, largely incoherent, overly complex, and generally just a little too twisted (though that supplied a lot of its best moments). There were a couple of points where one of the actors even self-consciously pointed out the lack of funny in some of his lines (it’s entirely possible that’s part of the script, but either way it feels like an admission of discomfort at doing scripted theatre in this group).
I also found it a bit frustrating that at various points, different actors would play the same character. This is fine in short improv sketches, but in an hour long play it can make things a bit more difficult to follow.
I feel a bit conflicted at knocking the play for this, because it really was really really funny. But, at the same time I feel like it didn’t really achieve its goals. It might have been better left as improv with some audience participation to decide how the mashup would have worked. As is, I just felt like I was just seeing some improv that I had no way to participate in.
I think I’ll be seeing this group’s actual improv show (Scratch) at some point during the Fringe, and this play has made me more excited to do so. And I think the script shows promise, it just needed to be narrowed down in scope a bit.
Tags: ***1/2, Arlen Konopaki, Ava Jane Markus, Chris Craddock, Jesse Gervais, Kevin Gillese, Rapid Fire Theatre
August 17th, 2010 at 10:49 am
The part about pointing out the lack of funny is part of the script. Or it was ad libbed during an early performance and has now become a part of the script. Because, those lines were in there when I saw the show, too. (And, based on the date that you posted this review, I saw it 2 or 3 days later than you did.)
I do agree with you about the frame story being a bit incoherent at times (the ending felt especially so, like they didn’t know how to end it, so…TIDAL WAVE!). Overall, though, I enjoyed it for the comedy and find it hard to criticize too much, simply because I found it so entertaining.