Using a Fairy Tale, Theater and Dance Subvert Expectations

Author: Lanford Beard

What exactly is a fairy tale? What does a fairy tale offer to societies and individuals?

This past weekend, Andrew Boyer '02 attempted to answer some of these questions with a modern perspective in the premiere of his senior independent work, "The Fairy Tale Project: The Terrible Head."

Boyer, a joint theater and dance major, has been dancing since his first year at Middlebury. He first conceived the idea of a dance play during his sophomore year and expanded the idea when he took a class on fairy tales in performance during Winter Term 2001.

The performance, based on Andrew Lang's Irish story "The Terrible Head," provided a thoroughly enjoyable mixture of sentiment and sensation, supported by strong performances from actors and crew alike.

James Pergolizzi '04 played the son of a peasant woman (Amanda Maxwell '02) who is propositioned by a callous king (Daniel Pruksarnukal '04).

In order to save his mother from the clutches of the king, the boy must embark upon a dangerous journey to retrieve the mythical Terrible Head and bring it back to the king.

However, the interesting part of the story comes not in the boy's quest but in the creatures that he encounters along the way.

Pergolizzi displayed a wide range of emotions as he moved from unwavering faith and boldness to anger, doubt and finally ironic coldness.

Pruksarnukal also had a standout performance as the heartless King, portraying in one moment impish delight and violent propriety in another.

The play embraced conventions, and properly so. Using classic Greek staging, in which a chorus of characters portrays both the characters of the play and the environment around them, Boyer subverted typical expectations of postmodernist drama by seeking clarity over superfluous imagery or symbolism.

This is not to say that Boyer's play did not realize a certain artistic panache. The lighting design by Caitlin Hicks '04 worked in harmony with Boyer's staging to portray the shifting emotional states of the characters, Pergolizzi's Boy in particular.

The play's rope motif stood out as one of the clearer signs of 21st century perspective. While Pergolizzi's character travels over virtual vast expanses to retrieve the head for his mother, the ever-present rope (particularly in one routine) physically manifested the continual circumscription that his psyche undergoes.

Further modern viewpoints came in the form of the three chorus members Elizabeth Hammett '05, Eliza Hulme '05 and Boyer himself.

Again adhering to Greek staging conventions, the actors repeatedly played mystical forces who obstruct the Boy's path and force him to surrender himself both psychologically and physically.

These characters were the most humorous and appealing of the performance, as they demonstrated the self-reflexivity of Boyer's own version of the fairy tale tradition.

Rather than rendering these creatures as terrifying and all powerful, Boyer's staging mocked, even deconstructed, the typical mystical monster persona as the creatures played games of duck, duck, goose and jump rope.

Yet as soon as Boyer allowed the audience to settle into the comedy, he revisited the dark core of the story with the Boy's final trial.

The most powerful single scene of the play occurred as the Boy confronts the Gorgons in order to retrieve the Terrible Head. Incorporating 20th century psychoanalytical philosophy, the Gorgons (Boyer, Hammett and Hulme) obscured the Boy's perceptive powers, making him a less heroic hero and them more sympathetic villains typical of postmodern narrative.

So finally, the question remains: what does a fairy tale offer us as societies and individuals?

With this progressive reading of traditional folklore, "The Terrible Head" placed cultural hero stories in an individual context.

Rather than praising epic deeds arising from a vaguely predestined necessity, Boyer's project emphasized the unavoidably detrimental effects of cruel deeds done in the name of good.

While Aeneas concludes his journey and establishes the soon-to-be glorious Rome, Boyer's Boy claims the King's throne and ironically internalizes the callousness of the King that he was trying to destroy — indeed an unhappy, yet appropriate mention of the times.

Overall, Boyer's direction and choreography came together as a tantalizing visceral experience providing a solid mixture of classic convention and modern perspective. Performances were strong, staging was enjoyable and conventions and subversions were much appreciated.