Review: CROCODILE FEVER at Irish Classical Theatre
A Dramatic Blood Bath
By: Michael Rabice Jun. 02, 2025
Fasten your seat belts and prepare for a theatrical ride that no one could truly predict. A new play in the style of Grand Guignol takes to the stage in Buffalo's Irish Classical Theatre's gripping production of CROCODILE FEVER by Meghan Tyler.
Artistic Director Keelie A. Sheridan has chosen this title for her directorial debut with the Company and in doing so, has chosen a piece that will never be forgotten. CROCODILE FEVER brings a tortured family's story to the forefront in Northern England in 1989. Irish playwright's have never skirted dark stories, and Tyler attacks a dark tale bringing it to light in a comedic style that shocks at almost every turn, while morphing into graphic unthinkable depravity. Think BEAUTY QUEEN ON LEENANNE meats MISERY and CARRIE, and you will start to form a mental picture of the dramatic arc this play takes.
Alannah Devlin lives a reclusive life caring for her ailing father, conscious of her Irish Catholic obligations as a daughter. Her sister Fianna quite literally barges into the family home, having been just released from a 12 year prison sentence. No communication or love has passed between these two over those years. Fianna was sent to jail for setting the home on fire, killing her mother in the process. But this convoluted story is not what it seems. The sister spar, laugh, sing and connive for the entire first act. When the father finally joins them on stage, the tale turns dark. The sisters come face to face with an abusive father who has suffered a stroke and the confrontations that ensue are unspeakable in nature.
Cassie Cameron gives a gut wrenching performance as Alannah, the sister trapped in the home as a sort of penance. Alannah suffers from guilt, OCD and anxiety that near paralyzes her. Cameron's portrayal is innocently heartbreaking and also comical in her eccentricities. But when she essentially becomes unhinged, she evolves into a psychotic despot. Her guttural screams and hysterical tears were masterfully delivered .
Anna Krempholz as Fianna is everything Alannah is not.... loud, brash, prone to cursing, drinking, and partying her life away. Krempholz embodies Fianna with a sense of street smarts and devil may care attitude that was completely believable. Her tangled relationship with Alannah plays out as a game of cat and mouse when the two reunite. But secrets slowly unfold as to the nature of the fire and prison sentence. Krempholz and Cameron manage to show glimpses of joy while reliving details of their life in an abusive household. When the boom-box plays AFRICA by Toto, the two sing and drink as if nothing evil has ever happened, and Cameron has a field day with her hilarious explanation of the meaning of the song's lyrics.
Christopher Guilmet is the dad, Peter. And oh, is he ever a mean man. Even the smell of his stale pipe smoke is enough to make both sisters recoil in fear from what must have been sexual abuse. Guilmet oozes evil and contempt, even in his infirmities. He made it easy to believe why the girls despised him. On the brink of death, he undergoes a metamorphosis of sorts that needs to be witnessed. The audience must suspend disbelief and process the final scene of this gripping and highly unconventional play.
Jake Hayes plays the British soldier who bursts into the house at the height of the drama, as if to be taking on the entire Irish Republican Army instead of two depraved sisters.
Sheridan believes in this play and it shows. It's hard to categorize CROCODILE FEVER into any genre, but Sheridan directs each scene and guides the actors to live in the moment, whether comic, dramatic or gory. She ensures the cast employs the full gamut of emotions necessary to convince the audience that this could be a real story vs a graphic horror story. Alannah's compulsions, Fianna's final self awareness that perhaps the sisters need to step back in their desperate actions and Peter's disregard for his actions all are expertly handled.
Scenic Design by Primo Thomas is suggestive and effective, with an eerie mood established as the TV plays scenes of the movie CARRIE. Meanwhile lighting design by Matthew DiVita adds dramatic tension. Fight Director Adriano Gatto does fine work with the amount of physical confrontation needed for the drama.
CROCODILE FEVER plays at Buffalo's Irish Classical Theatre through June 15,2025. Contact irishclassical.com for more information.
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