Storytelling is probably the truly first human art. From the dawn of sentience, we have gathered around the fire pondering the natures of life, love and the perennial existential fear of all humans, death, what lies beyond and what has come before both being deliberated in equal measure through the sharing of stories.
Death, The Devil & The Fablemaker takes a dreamlike wander through the meeting of Perry (Amy Clayton), a schoolteacher and storyteller, and a strange supernatural figure, Alastor (Justin Cartledge), who has his own reasons and designs. The pair of them have met more than once and take turns to tell each other short but meaningful fables. The rest of the ensemble cast, faces painted and dressed in pale hues, mime, dance and move around the stage enacting the stories, while Perry and Alastor take turns to listen and to speak.
But it’s an ephemeral and strange play. The piece starts in a hazy confusion, and events seem to move through time in a fashion that isn’t entirely clear. This, however, despite a slightly discombobulating opening, adds to the atmosphere of the fabulous and the mythic as Alastor’s sinister presence and Perry’s down-to-earth kindness push back and forth.
The whole is perhaps lacking a final polish that would cement it into brilliance, what with the aforementioned opening and some of the dialogue being a little too far on the side of vagueness. Yet by the time the tales have woven their tapestry and the final moments come, it’s been a journey that genuinely casts a spell over the audience. The balletic movement of the ensemble helps propel the piece beyond the limitations of the dark, shadowy space and means that the overall effect is more than the sum of its parts.