Animalia – Smock Alley Theatre – Tiger Dublin Fringe Review By Charlotte Reid

Dates Sep 13 – 18 @ 18:15 / Sep 17 – 18 @ 13:00 Tickets €14 / €12 conc.
Duration 50 mins – Venue: Smock Alley Theatre Boys’ School

Focusing on Danielle and Sarah, two young schoolgirls who have been neighbours for years, we follow them as they rekindle their unlikely friendship to cope with the tough world of school, friends, parents and bullies. Two actresses take on the roles of the various characters that come in and out of their stories, occasionally bursting into animal-like behaviour, the play captures that kids can be cruel. It shows how girls especially can create a hierarchy that no one is immune from slipping down.

With a minimal set, simple (but effective) lighting and the occasional musical segment it really is down to the two actresses to carry this play. From the first 30 seconds it’s clear we’re in safe hands, swapping between a variety of characters – with both even taking on the same character at different points – it’s impressive to watch. There’s barely a five second pause throughout its 50 minute run as the characters talk the audience through each scenario “And then she said…” etc, wildly reliving their day with animated actions, such as children do. For me, adults playing children is always an odd one, Blue Remembered Hills springs to mind – it’s almost impossible not to over-act it as children are so different to adults. Here the acting is solid because of the sheer number of characters and how you know in an instant who they are supposed to be, before they have even said a word. Old or young, boy or girl, each person had their own stance, facial expression, movements, there was a never a point where you felt the play was missing an extra person.

The simplicity was refreshing to see, this is stripped back drama. Without many distractions you can appreciate the effect that has gone into creating the characters and the hierarchy of the playground. When two people are together there is a clear leader, but swap one of them out and everything changes. This was a nice touch and you really feel that the two girls have depth – not an easy feat with so many characters and only 50 minutes. Little things like Danielle sitting in the car with her mother, but they’re on opposite sides of the stage, don’t go unnoticed. It shows you can have a big impact with very little to work with.

I think the beauty of seeing a story through a child’s eyes is that you can tease out the drama, when reading Room it’s not obvious for a long time the situation the characters are in. A child’s naivety and confusion can keep an audience guessing, a lot longer than if it was told from an adult’s perspective. I think here this technique could have been used more, we’re sussing out that there’s something wrong at home with one of the girls relatively quickly and it could be more subtle. At the same time, while we’re aware of some underlying problems going on relatively quickly, there feels like a lot is unresolved at the end. Clearly it’s left unresolved for a reason but for me the ending felt like it should be the intermission – I was very excited for that second half, it’s just a shame it didn’t come.

Abrupt ending or not, what’s worth seeing this play for is the acting, I felt lucky to watch the sheer skill it takes to bring these people to life, and it looked effortlessly done. Yet again the Fringe brings us a story told in a unique way but holds its own in terms of quality.