NORMAL

Has it really been 26 years since NORMAL’s premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival? Since the first rumble of the subversive work (of Anthony Neilson and other British playwrights such as Mark Ravenhill, Sarah Kane and Phillip Ridley) that would thunder into the In-yer-face movement? Praise be to the Vagrancy for finally giving this taut and transgressive play its very first west coast production. Let’s hope the awesome performances and high production values lead to a well-justified full run for this show.... full review

Great. Dark, edgy, frightening, delightful. Great use of horror genre on a live stage. An emotional and intillectual exploration of what makes a monster? What is normal? And what are we (the audience) really capable of? Loved it... full review

I was told this production was the best production so far at the fringe, and I wish it were running longer as I HIGHLY recommend seeing The Vagrancy’s “Normal” by Anthony Neilson. I applaud The Vagrancy for choosing a genre so seldomly performed in theatre; a psychological thriller in the realm of “The Silence of the Lambs”. Reading the synopsis, and/or the play itself, it would be very easy, directorially, to blindly presume this to be a protagonist vs. antagonist story; a serial killer conversing with his attorney. But one soon realizes that in order to manifest the play’s message, much of this story is reliant on who is telling it. The director, David Mancini, wisely forgoes this and makes Kurten’s attorney the storyteller (playe... full review