Fate!, a performance by DU Players, takes a classic children’s story and the mythological motif of the Three Fates to create a piece that brings together a new telling of fairy tales. This was achieved through pandemic-friendly staging and camera-work, along with skilful performances.
Written by Aoife Cronin and Cillian O’Donnell, and directed by Jack Brocklebank and Aoife Cronin, this story follows the Three Fates – Chaos, Spite and Fable – whose ongoing task is to ensure that stories are told and destinies are fulfilled. The plot centres on a story which blends elements from both Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs as it is reconstructed by the Fates. The result is an entertaining and dynamic piece in its performances, script and overall production design.
Amy Wyley’s performance is particularly attention-grabbing as she effectively performs the role of the play’s lead character. Nathan Patterson and Alannah O’Hare, who incarnates Spite and Fable respectively, fill their roles like the angel and devil on Chaos’ shoulders, characters reminiscent of older sibling figures. The actors’ chemistry through their characters’ bickering is quickly apparent, with a very entertaining result that allows the dialogue between the Three Fates to be believable and engaging, while providing the smooth pacing for the production.
The laid-back and contented characters of the three little pigs portrayed by Luca McVey, Lucia Orsi, Catherine Boyd, along with the subversively sentimental Wolf incarnated by James O’Keefe and Loulou Mac Hale’s vengeful Red Riding Hood, make for excellent pawns in the Three Fates’ attempt at crafting a story. These characters carry the second storyline well, with each actor giving memorable personalities to their roles.
In the decision to broadcast this production live on YouTube, the cast and crew made interesting attempts to use this to their advantage. The use of the camera’s zoom, especially in conjunction with the blocking and lighting changes, made for a cinematic and dynamic addition to the production, bringing a very welcome new dimension to the form of Fate! as a play. Particularly, this effect brought great momentum to the dialogue’s line where Chaos says to have started writing about the Three Little Pigs, literally expanding the scope of the story on the stage.
The stage itself was set as quite a small and lowly lit area. The raised platform on which the Three Fates were stationed was given strong and clear lighting from start to finish. More attentive lighting might have brought sharper focus onto the foreground in moments of relevance, rather than the lighting there was, which sometimes had the characters without enough illumination, notably the Wolf at the point with the drill. Nevertheless, a visible amount of effort was made to keep changing the scene without taking breaks to move props, which was certainly impressive. While the blocking of the characters seemed hectic at times when all were present and involved onstage, this can be put down to the size of the space given by the camera’s field.
Regarding the script and story, the general plot of the Three Fates meddling with and attempting to fix the story as it unfolds prevails as very entertaining to the viewer and the dialogue shift as each Fate takes turns writing the narrative is an original idea and quite well realised. However, the Matthew McConnaughey “Alright, alright” and “I woman, damn I be shopping” jokes did not land as they were intended to, whose randomness didn’t carry enough momentum.
Additionally, the self-awareness in the Wolf/Pigs’ clichéd story ending earlier in the play and the deliberately generic dialogue where the characters are “journeying” later were effective and added to the metatheatrical and sometimes absurd aspects of the script. On a similar note, the ending of the play, in all its randomness and absurdity, is engaging and thoroughly enjoyable.
Fate! is available to watch on DU Players’ YouTube channel.
