Sidhe No Evil?

Saturday evening, I was at The Storefront Theatre for The Skriker (Caryl Churchill) by The Red One Collective. This creepy play about faerieland would have been perfect for Halloween. But today is The Day of the Dead, so still appropriate. Among the theatre goers, there were people in costumes. After redeeming my ticket, I received a marble from someone in a Jason-esque get-up. A masked girl led us around the back of the building where we gave our marble to a twitchy hag. The usual stage set-up has been reversed so that we sat facing what would usually be the theatre's entrance.

It turns out the hag and other otherwordly creatures including Black Annis, Nellie Longarms were at once both faerie (or perhaps more unseelie) and incarnations of The Skriker. The "main" Skriker (Claire Armstrong) set the scene in a long introduction. Speaking in rambling word associations, it hinted at perhaps territorial conflict between mankind and its own self. Though some of the non-sequiturs made funny jokes, this bowler-hatted creature was no merry leprechaun.

The action centered around the pregnant Lily (Perrie Olthius) and Josie (Suzette McCanny). These young, "lower-class" sisters found themselves in some sort of institution. The former decided that she needed to run away from there. The latter seemed off-kilter due to some private trauma, and insisted that one of the residents was a supernatural creature hundreds of years old. Josie warned Lily to not befriend it, and certainly do not accept its offer to grant wishes.

Both girls escaped separately and found themselves in London. The Skriker, and its various incarnations, attached itself to the women. It tried to ingratiate itself and establish a relationship, whether as friend, cherubic charge, or romantic partner. Each attempt usually fell apart from its simmering rage or alien incomprehensibility. There were obviously strings attached to any promises offered by this mercurial creature.

It was an interesting perspective on normalcy and madness. If your surroundings (as you see it) such as your couch, bed, or TV come to life as disfigured creatures, how would you react? If every person that you interact with (in your experience) is just a different disguise for the same person, can you trust anyone?

The large cast played their role well. But I wasn't quite convince of the coaching directions for Lily and Josie. Sometimes, they reacted to the strange going-ons with practical matter-of-factness; at other times, screeching hysteria. I personally think a normal person would progress from one state to the other (in either direction) instead of this see-saw. The guitar-playing of Andy Trithardt (Kelpie) added to the creepy atmosphere.