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Post by Kelly White

I was fully expecting Animal Tales to be darker and racier than it sounded, yet the lighthearted dialogues were mostly innocent and overwrought. After accepting that the tone would be playful and more sentimental than I prefer, I found myself completely stirred by the acting itself.

Give Bryan R. Caine, director and founder of Galloping Abbey, any script, and watch him go. Caine is a powerhouse, churning through his lines with exceptional delivery, no matter the quality of the writing. His monologues will make you sweat. Bat requires that Caine hang upside down from scaffolding the entire time he recites the material. In The Baboon God, his bellows and chest poundings are the loudest and most vicious sounds in Kensington. Pair him with Scotland native/New Jersey-bred Alan Scott for the riotous Parrots duet, in which the two go neo-Stooge-like from their cage, and you’ve got the audience on your side.

The rest of the cast has a lot to stand up to, but the young, fresh voices are strong. It makes you wish that the Walking Fish Theatre were a little bit bigger, so that the applause could match.

Animal Tales, August 29-September 6
Pennypack Park, 3600 Verree Avenue, Philadelphia PA
Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19125
(215) 427-8255

Animal Tales @ Philly Fringe
www.pafringe.com/2008/details.cfm?id=5712