CROCODILE FEVER, Traverse Theatre 2019 – Lisa Dwyer Hogg © Lara Cappelli
CROCODILE FEVER
By Meghan Tyler (IRL)
2 F / 2 M
Black comedy
English original text
Northern Ireland, 1989. A farmhouse window smashes, and rebellious Fianna Devlin crashes back into the life of her pious sister Alannah. Together in the unlovely family home for the first time in years, the sisters are back at each other’s throats in seconds. And when they are forced to confront their tyrannical father’s hideous legacy, all hell breaks loose.
Fuelled by Taytos, gin, 80s tunes and a chainsaw, it’s the Devlin sisters versus the world. It can’t end happily, but it can end gloriously. Like Thelma and Louise’s punk daughter, Meghan Tyler’s surreal Crocodile Fever is a grotesque black comedy celebrating sisterhood whilst reminding us that the pressure cooker of The Troubles is closer than we imagine.
CROCODILE FEVER, Traverse Theatre 2019 © Jamie Macdonald
REVIEWS
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Martin McDonagh’s influence is rife in Crocodile Fever. But this is by no means The Lieutenant of Inishmore. This is much, much more. This is genre-defining.” (Miro Magazine)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “This play is a bloody masterpiece in every sense, the dialogue pinging around the space, laughter dying in your throat, genuine shocks as the play becomes more Gothic […] See it for how women have been abused and neglected and how revenge may or may not be the best dish served.” (British theatre.com )
“Chekhov famously pronounced that if you’re going to bring a gun on stage, you’ve got to use it. Is the same true for a chainsaw?” (theartsdesk.com)
