Theatre Above the Law returns to the fairy tales collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, as adapted again by Michael Dalberg. (Dalberg’s adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is also currently onstage with Idle Muse through October 23.) I saw last year’s outing, and this time the connective tissue in the mostly new round of stories selected by Dalberg (directed by Tony Lawry) seems stronger, more deeply rooted in the theme of loss—particularly sibling loss.
Grimm Through 10/30: Fri-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Mon 10/24 7:30 PM, Jarvis Square Theater, 1439 W. Jarvis, 773-655-7197, theatreatl.org, $15-$25
Jacob (James Hendley) is once again in a tavern occupied by characters in the fairy tales he and his dead brother gathered, in hot pursuit of the wolf (Ian Gonzalez-Muentener) he believes killed Wilhelm. “This place is for survivors,” Little Red (Gayatri Gadhvi) tells him. But of course all is not as it seems, and as the ensemble enacts more stories from the Grimm canon (including “The Seven Ravens,” in which a little sister must go to great lengths to save her seven brothers from a curse placed on them by their father), the role of fairy tales as conduits for understanding grief, loss, sacrifice, and redemption becomes more clear to Jacob, especially.
Not that it’s all heavy psychological stuff: Connar Brown as all seven of the aforementioned brothers and as the puppeteer for the Frog Prince delivers assured physical comedy, and Brooks Whitlock’s dry delivery as the wish-granting prince-fish in “The Fisherman and His Wife” remains as droll and on point as I remember from last year. Dalberg’s deft adaptation, Lawry’s staging, and the ensemble combine for an entertaining family show that hearkens back to the work of Paul Sills and his Story Theatre.
