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.
Crocodile Fever begins simple enough with Allanah stood in a bright pink kitchen bleaching surfaces with a toothbrush, but before long her sister Fianna crashes in fresh from an 8-year jail sentence and a few years on the run with the IRA. The play feels exciting but it starts off as somewhat standard ‘troubles’ based fare.
Lucianne McAvoy and Lisa Dwyer banter back and forth with great chemistry and funny engaging dialogue. Wee differences creep in though, like how it’s set in Armagh instead of the more standard Belfast setting. You think you know where this is all going…you couldn’t be more wrong. The play takes more twists than the Mississippi river, each one getting darker than the last whilst still holding onto the humor that has peppered it from the start.
There’s more than one place where you find yourself laughing then stopping yourself only to realize that everyone is laughing too so it must be ok, right? The sets transform as the action does too, from bright pink to dark and dirty, finally settling on near blackness.
This is a messy tale to be told, that takes no prisoners, but isn’t scared to bring the laughs regardless of how black the humor.
Horror influences are laced throughout too, Lucianne McAvoy has more than a passing resemblance to Sissy Spacek in Carrie, quotes from Carrie and The Shining and at one point the set resembles Texas Chainsaw Massacre in a way that would make Tobe Hooper feel squeamish.
I would encourage you to see this for yourself because I think if I told you how it all ends, you probably wouldn’t believe me.
Crocodile Fever is on at The Lyric Theatre until 8th September. More info here.
