Review By Susannah Whitman, Front Row Reviewers
Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre, along with Lil Poppet Productions, gives us a glimpse of tenderness and pain between siblings in My Brother Was a Vampire, part of the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival, and then the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The set is minimal–two small step stools sit centerstage at the top of the show. Since the show is headed into two different Fringe Festivals, the minimal set is necessary for a quick set up and take down. But it also serves the story well. The play takes place over multiple years and locations, and the lack of a more detailed set helps us to focus on the thing that is so central to the play–the relationship between siblings Skye (Ariana Farber) and Callum (Tyler Fox).
Skye and Callum’s dysfunctional family history have cost both of them dearly. There are allusions to drug addiction and individual rocky romances in their personal lives, and it’s clear that the relationship between the two of them is messy. They resent each other. They love each other. They’re afraid of each other. They’d die for each other. They bring out the best and the worst in each other. And as we go back in time, we see how their love for each other has been the foundation of everything else afterwards.
Farber gives the character of Skye both a fierce anger and a childlike innocence. Farber’s performance is layered and intense, slowly becoming more vulnerable throughout the show. Since the story is told in chronologically reverse order, we can watch in reverse to see how Skye had to harden in order to survive.
Fox brings a barely concealed woundedness to the character of Callum. His performance is equally layered, revealing both a protector and a victim. One of Fox’s greatest strengths is his physicality. The moments of pain, of fear, and of flight are all expressed in his body with a deep authenticity.
And there are moments of flight. But there’s no fly system, no special effects. The minimalism of the set makes creativity a necessity, but the movement of the two actors, combined with lighting and sound effects, make the supernatural elements of the show not only believable, but deeply moving. The transitions in particular (choreographed by Meghan Durham-Wall), while brief, are effective and beautiful.
Additional acknowledgement must be given to sound designer Griffin Irish. The horror sound effects are what truly sell the supernatural element of the show. Because sometimes family dysfunction really does feel supernatural. Trauma can feel like a supernatural entity–something big and powerful that defies both words and weapons. The title of the show implies that Callum is the vampire, but the script is not that clean cut. Maybe the monster is their father, or their mother. Or the sickness that Skye deals with. Or Callum’s addiction. Or their twisted relationship. Or just the terrifying broken parts of ourselves.
Or all of the above.
The characters place so much emphasis on how things are “supposed” to be, and the divide between that and what is. Callum is constantly telling his sister what a freak she is. But maybe Skye knows that sometimes to face a monster, you have to become one yourself. Yes, vampires can suck the life blood from you, but one of the best ways to protect yourself is to become a vampire yourself. They’re immortal, after all. (And they can fly.) And in vampire lore, once you’re bitten, the way to transform is to then drink some of the blood of the vampire who bit you. A gruesome, ongoing cycle.
Morag Shepherd’s writing doesn’t give us easy answers. Vampire opens doors and windows, and sometimes leads us toward cliffs, but the decision about stepping through or looking over is left in our hands. And she lets us laugh along the way, even if it’s dark. Director Stephanie Stroud lets Shepherd’s writing and Farber’s and Fox’s acting take center stage.
Sunday’s performance was part of a fundraising effort before the show goes on to Scotland, and the support in the crowd was palpable. Seats were filled to overflow with a veritable who’s who of the Utah theatre scene–playwrights, theatre owners and producers, and actors. Utah audiences have three chances to see this moving work before it heads across the pond. And I’m excited for everyone who gets to see it.
My Brother Was a Vampire is the kind of theatre that stokes a fire in the base of my spine. It’s exciting and dangerous, and there’s something that feels almost ancient about the simplicity of two actors telling a story with just a few sound effects and a couple of footstools. But don’t let the simplicity of the production fool you. The themes of the play are ancient too. Fear and love are two of the oldest and deepest things we carry, whether in Salt Lake City or Edinburgh, Scotland.
Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre and Lil Poppet Productions presents My Brother Was a Vampire by Morag Shepherd at the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival
The Alliance Theatre – Main Hall at Trolley Square, 602 E 500 S Suite E101, Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Free covered parking available next to Whole Foods at the north end of Trolley Square. Or take Trax and get off at the Trolley Square station.
Friday, July 25 10:30 PM, Saturday, July 26 9:00 PM, Sunday, July 27, 4:30 PM
$15 General Admission
My Brother Was a Vampire promo reel
Content advisory: FF (Fairly Fringe-y)/PG-13 for language and mature themes
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