Arcola theatre, London
In 1980s Northern Ireland, an abusive father and the soldiers patrolling the streets morph into a common enemy to rage against, in Meghan Tyler’s blackly comic taleThe rosary is whipped out within seconds. God-fearing Alannah (Rachael Rooney, her angular movements like a frightened bird) is scrubbing the cooker with a toothbrush when her muddy-booted, foul-mouthed, IRA-recruited little sister Fianna (Meghan Tyler, also the play’s wildness written all over them) bursts in through the window of their childhood home. This fearless revenge play has a taste for chaos, transforming a biting domestic drama into a surreal, gruesome horror.First performed at Edinburgh’s Traverse in 2019 and set over one stormy night in 1980s south Armagh, this new production is a revelatory character study of these two troubled sisters. Tensions start high and keep climbing. Gun-wielding Brits roam the streets outside, while inside, Alannah tiptoes under the rule of their abusive, now-paralysed father (Stephen Kennedy, with a slippery, sinister entrance, the fear of him built up before he even gets on stage). Continue reading...
Tuesday 28 October 2025
.theguardian - 2 days ago
Crocodile Fever review – sisters’ wild revenge has a taste for chaos
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