Off With The Faeries
Sun Herald
Sunday December 1, 1996
TALES OF A FAERIE CALLED ANGEL
Written & Directed by Harry Cripps
Wharf 2
LIGHT farce is the order of the day in Harry Cripps' new play, so light it verges on weightlessness. Told as a series of Chaucer-esque fables - the Couturier's Tale, the Terrorist's Tale, the Vampire's Tale, etc - Cripps wants to juxtapose the old world horror of the fairy tale with the modern day phenomena of terrorism and urban violence, but to what end remains elusive.
An ironic, "sophisticated" humour permeates the wordy script, but at the expense of a dramatic experience. Every time our imaginations might be coaxed into accepting the fantasy of the scenarios, we are jolted back to reality by a self-conscious aside from the Very Witty Wilde School.
An energetic cast tries hard to breathe life into what is a colourful production from Rebel Penfold-Russell. But it's only the one-liners and incidental jokes that stay with you, and not for long beyond the curtain call.
© 1996 Sun Herald