Reviews

Review: The Beastiary, a Puppet Pageant of the Apocalypse, at Ars Nova

On the Rocks Theatre Co. debuts its latest show at Greenwich House.

Zachary Stewart

Zachary Stewart

| Off-Broadway |

October 21, 2024

Phillip Taratula, Marc Bovino, Jeena Yi, and Rebeca Miller star in Christopher Ford and Dakota Rose’s The Beastiary, directed by Rose, for On the Rocks Theatre Co. at Ars Nova.
(© Ben Arons)

The mouth of hell has opened onstage at Greenwich House Theater, out of which spills The Beastiary, the marvelously imaginative new pageant of the apocalypse created by On the Rocks Theatre Co. (comprising co-writers and designers Christopher Ford and Dakota Rose; the latter directs), now making its world premiere with Ars Nova. An unlikely yet intoxicating mixture of medieval and modern sensibilities, it’s that highly satisfying brand of weird that occasionally still penetrates an increasingly fearful and conservative off-Broadway.

The hell mouth serves as the proscenium, with stalagmite teeth and three radiant eyes peering out at the audience. These are the three suns that rise in the sky following the death of the last unicorn on Earth, consumed at a royal wedding rehearsal dinner. That extravagant act of gluttony sets off 30 years of chaos, in which demonic beasts stalk the land and no new human children are born.

The suns are our narrators, guiding us through scenes depicting the horrors of this time: A starving farmer (Marc Bovino) resorts to eating the small demons plaguing his land. Equally desperate, a milkmaid (Jeena Yi) breeds her last cow with a Blemmyae in the hope of producing offspring. A pregnant nun (also Yi) is expelled from her convent to live among the beasts. A knight (Bovino) flirts and plays dice with a gryphon. An arms merchant (Gil Perez-Abraham) and his giantess daughter (Rebeca Miller) prepare for the coming war. And a child bride (Miller) and her attendant (the consistently hilarious Phillip Taratula) make their slow procession toward court (the rehearsal dinner 30 years prior was for her wedding), committing dreadful acts toward expectant mothers they meet along the way so they might arrive at court bearing a healthy baby.

Gil Perez-Abraham and Marc Bovino appear in Christopher Ford and Dakota Rose’s The Beastiary, directed by Rose, for On the Rocks Theatre Co. at Ars Nova.
(© Ben Arons)

The medieval vibes are strong, with the theater painted to look like a wizard’s tent at a ren faire (scenic design by Ford and Rose). And yet the presence of a theremin as the primary instrument underscoring the play gives it a sci-fi kick (Dorit Chrysler composed the otherworldly original music, which is performed by Cornelius Loy on theremin and music supervisor Ellen Winter on other instruments). Ford’s vibrant and artfully constructed costumes synthesize mythical past with fantastical future, conveying a distinct and eye-catching aesthetic that is further supported by Kate McGee’s transformative lighting and Enrico de Trizio’s grotesquely evocative sound design. A delightfully analog sensibility (as encapsulated by the patterned backdrops that roll up and down against the upstage wall) reigns.

By far the most impressive design element is Ford’s gorgeously detailed puppets, all little works of art that coyly reveal the ingenuity of their creation. I particularly loved the little blue demons on single castors. Later in the show they sing a group number about the vital role scavengers play in any ecosystem as the farmer seems to suffer from a mental breakdown. It’s like an episode of Sesame Street guest-directed by Hieronymus Bosch.

Marc Bovino, Gil Perez-Abraham, Phillip Taratula, and Rebeca Miller appear in Christopher Ford and Dakota Rose’s The Beastiary, directed by Rose, for On the Rocks Theatre Co. at Ars Nova.
(© Ben Arons)

And yet the actual director, Rose, maintains an air of levity throughout that helps offset the heaviness of these quasi-Brechtian end times. The stagecraft on display is serious, but the tone (thankfully) never is. The five actors onstage, all natural comedians, certainly help — although I also frequently laughed at the Conehead facial expressions Loy made as he massaged the air around his theremin.

This generous comedy softens real anxiety — about a feckless elite squabbling in suspended adolescence, about environmental changes no human can arrest, about a plummeting birthrate, and about the coarsening of human behavior as the impact of those changes becomes ever more severe. You can think about all those things as you watch The Beastiary — or you can just marinate in the strange and wonderful world Ford and Rose conjure for 90 glorious minutes.

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