Meghan Tyler and Rachael Rooney, the playwright and cast of Crocodile Fever, spoke to David Hennessy ahead of the play coming to Arcola Theatre.
The award-winning Crocodile Fever by Newry playwright Meghan Tyler is set to open Arcola Theatre’s 25th anniversary season
Directed by Arcola Theatre Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen for its London premiere, Crocodile Fever is a disturbingly dark comedy and surreal exploration of what goes on behind closed doors through the estranged relationship of two sisters during the ‘Troubles’.
The blurb for the play says: “Fuelled by Taytos, gin, 80s anthems and a chainsaw, it’s the Devlin sisters versus the world. It can’t end happily, but it can end gloriously.”
A messy and brutal hit-back against suppression, Crocodile Fever rebelliously puts a figurative chainsaw to the impact of generational trauma – and a literal one to much else.
The play finds Fianna returning to her family home after many years away. She is coming to celebrate the death of her monstrous father but she is in for a surprise while being reunited with her sister Alannah after a long time of the Devlin sisters not seeing each other.
We caught up with playwright Meghan Tyler who also plays Fianna as well as her co- star Rachael Rooney who takes on the role of Alannah.
Interview with Meghan Tyler
Meghan Tyler is an award-winning actor and writer from Newry who trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Crocodile Fever won Meghan the 2019 Channel 4 Playwrights Bursary, a New Playwrights Award with Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, 2019 and Stewart Parker Award.
Crocodile Fever has been staged at The Lyric Theatre, Belfast and Traverse Theatre, Ednburgh later in the same year.
Other writing credits include Medicine, The Persians, Golden Arm Theatre Project and Nothing To Be Done which was awarded the MARTA Award for Best Script.
Recent stage credits include playing Stella in the critically acclaimed Lyric Production of A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Emma Jordan.
Meghan has acted in their own work before with productions of Medicine, The Persians and Nothing To Be Done.
This is their first time to act in Crocodile Fever.
Other theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Crucible at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Two Gentlemen of Verona for Guilford Shakespeare Company and Hamlet for Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow.
Screen credits include Almost Never and Shetland for the BBC, The Toll for Western Edge Pictures, Everything Will Be Okay for BBC Northern Ireland and Scot Squad for Comedy Unit at the BBC.
The Irish World caught up with Meghan to chat about Crocodile Fever.
How are you looking forward to the London premiere of Crocodile Fever?
“Pure. Dead. Buzzing.
“For starters, The Arcola feels a bit of me so, by extension, a bit of this play.
“There’s a real warm, ensemble, rebellious heart to the building, which is a testament to the vivacious folk who work there.
“The team we have on board for Crocodile Fever has laser intellect, as well as a cracking sense of humour, and buckets of talent, so it’s going to be a riot.”
How would you describe the play to someone who has heard nothing about it?
“Ooft… a very dark comedy with epic tunes and an ending which will leave you breathless.
“’Always write something impossible in a script’ is a bit of wisdom I live by, and it is safe to say, Crocodile Fever is full of the impossible, so there’s real moments of magic.
“Shorthand? It’ll put a fire up ye.”
Do you remember when and how you were inspired to write it? Where did the idea first come from?
“There was this fierce, funny, Beckettesque dialogue bouncing about my brain for a while that I couldn’t place.
“One very late night, I couldn’t figure out how to change the channel on my dad’s television, so found myself half-watching a Steve Brackhall documentary.
“When he was interviewing the Asmat Tribe about their myths and legends, I was enthralled, and reminded of the transformative Irish myths and legends I was brought up on.
“Something clicked, and thus, Crocodile Fever was born.”
Sisterhood seems to be a theme at the heart of the play, what is the relationship between Fianna and Alannah? They seem to be so very different but that does not mean the bond is not strong..
“Fianna and Alannah are different sides of the same coin. “Seem” is a great choice of word there – they do “seem” to be so very different, in the beginning they are chalk and cheese.
“As everything unfolds, what I love about the two of them is how they emulate each other.
“It’s fraught to start with, but there’s a deep rooted bond of love there that transcends everything else.”
Is there resentment between them for how Fianna was able to get away? Did that leave Alannah feeling like she had to stay?
“Huge resentment from both sides.
“Mammoth, understandable, human resentment.
“A very Irish resentment that happens between siblings.
“There’s more to the story than how Fianna got away and how Alannah had to stay… spoilers…”
Fianna and Alannah have come from an abusive situation, does the play look at that kind of trauma? Growing up in the Troubles, did they grow up with war inside and outside the home?
“The play definitely looks at that kind of trauma, but it isn’t the kind of play where suddenly! There’s a spotlight! A sad sting of music! The actor approaches the audience and goes into great, horrific detail at the abuse their character experienced!
“F**k that trope. I find it grotesque.
“Myself, as well as many of my mates, are survivors of abuse – and that does not define us. So it felt vital to not make that “the thing” for these brilliant, hilarious, unique characters.
“And they grew up in South Armagh during The Troubles. South Armagh was a hotbed for the endless abuses exacted by the British army.
“That’s why the war was the time period I chose – the overwhelming oppression by the state, the church, the men – and Alannah and Fianna are the heart of this tale.
“They’re the focus.”
Does the play also say something about the lasting effect of childhood traumas in later life? Have neither sister truly got over what happened to them?
“Yes, it does. And who does?
“Especially in the eighties. In any part of Ireland.
“It’s not really like you could visit a therapist and get diagnosed for PTSD and get some sertraline for your nightmares.
“You’d see a priest, who’d tell ye to wise up and say an Our Father and get back to the stove.”
The material may not sound like a comedy but isn’t it very true of Northern Irish people to find the humour in horrific circumstances? Hasn’t a gallows humour sustained the people there through dark times?
“It’s in our bones. We are the funniest people in the world because we’ve had to find the light in extreme dark. Up and down the island of Ireland.”
Interview With Rachael Rooney
Rachael Rooney from Warrenpoint in Co. Down plays Alannah in Crocodile Fever.
Rachael trained at the Rose Bruford College in London.
Rachael has been featured in The Irish World twice before.
In 2021 we spoke to her about Eoin McAndrew’s The Girl Who Was Very Good At Lying. She would earn an OFFIE nomination for her work as Catriona as well as earning a 5 star review from The Stage for the one woman show.
She would also speak to us in 2022 about Kate Reid’s The Fourth Country, a play that tackled Northern Irish politics.
We caught up with Rachael ahead of rehearsals for Crocodile Fever.
First reading it, what was it about Crocodile Fever that struck you and made you want to be part of it?
“The biggest thing for me was reading lines that had ‘ba’ in them.
“It’s something I haven’t actually read in a script before even from other Irish writers.
“It was just how colloquial the language was and we later figured out that Meghan, the writer and who is playing Fianna, is also from Newry, so we’re both from the same spot.
“I think that really clicked for me.
“That’s why, when I read the script, I just knew exactly how these two sisters were meant to sound.
“I had never read like a sentence saying, ‘Here, you’re some craic, ba’- The amount of times I’ve said that to my brother around the dinner table is hilarious and I’d never read that so I think that was my biggest pull initially.
“I was kind of like, ‘Who is this writer and how have they managed to encapsulate that?’
“That was exciting.
“I think Meghan has done an incredible job at letting two young women in a very specific time in Ireland be this slightly monstrous, slightly grotesque but deeply human and personable and likable people.
“And Meghan’s dissection of abuse felt really honest.
“I think a lot of the time being a survivor of abuse is often quite romanticised or heroized and that’s never felt honest or true.
“The truth of it is that who you are before and after trauma, you would rather it didn’t happen and no matter how you find a way to make it better, it never goes away and it’s never fully healed.
“I think Meghan captures that perfectly in a play that also manages to be incredibly funny and capture Irish humour really well.
“And, like I said, love to hear ‘ba’ and ‘hi’ in the middle of a sentence, it always tickles me so that’s great.”
Did you say you and Meghan are from the same place?
“I’m from Warrenpoint so actually both of us went to the same grammar school, we both went to Sacred Heart in Newry.
“We were there at the same time but weirdly never seemed to cross paths.
“I was quite shy growing up so maybe that was it.
“And it was, I think, the biggest connecting point in the audition.
“I kind of burst through the doors going, ‘Hello fellow Newry nyuck’.
“Meghan was like, ‘No way. What school did you go to?’
“And everyone else in the room- the producer, the director, the assistant director- were all kind of sitting there going, ‘Okay, can you two wrap it up and get to the audition?’
“That led really, really nicely to the chemistry that we needed to have kind of off the bat.”
I get what you mean about colloquialisms, I think being authentic has been so key to the success of things like Derry Girls..
“Exactly, absolutely.
“And I think Meghan’s so brave and bold for even putting that on the London stage because they’re kind of the colloquialisms we’re taught to dilute when we move over to London in order for people to understand our coffee order.
“If I was going into my local coffee shop going, ‘Here, give me a latte, ba’, they wouldn’t have a notion what was going on.”
I think they would ask you leave..
“Exactly, ‘Get out of here’.
“And it’s a show that, as much as it is kind of full force punching you in the face with the truth, the ugly, funny, dark truth of abuse and control and oppression, it’s also getting onto a London stage and going like, ‘You’re all going to hear true colloquial Irish people talking as we would speak to each other if we were standing in Newry in Sacred Heart speaking to each other.
“I hadn’t read anything like it.
“It was so exciting to read just as an Irish person in London.”
Does it have a similar tone to the dark comedy or Martin McDonagh or Marina Carr..
“Absolutely, I personally really saw a Martin McDonagh humour to it straight away.
“It is super dark and I think there’s times where Meghan will throw in a line or two that will make your toes curl a little bit but immediately it kind of lifts again or it’s dealt with in a way that I think often we deal with trauma and things like this in Ireland where one toe curling sentence is said and then the next person sitting at the dinner table goes, ‘Anyway…’
“It’s so brushed off so definitely Martin McDonagh would be a big draw.
“We haven’t started rehearsals but there’s chainsaws, there’s literal legs being sawn off.
“It is a bit grotesque but it’s not gory and there’s definitely reason for the violence.
“What these girls end up doing could be considered quite monstrous yet you still root for them and you still kind of want them to win and despite your better judgment of knowing what’s happening isn’t great, you can’t bestow violence and abuse and expect peace in return.
“I know Meghan has mentioned Thelma and Louise before but there is something quite Thelma and Louise-y about this where, despite everything, you’re kind of like, ‘Yeah, go on girls’, and you’re rooting for them.
“I guess that is wanting them to find their own vengeance and their own peace and justice from the situation whether or not what they do would be what you would consider an okay way to find peace is up to you when you watch it but I think you can’t bring a creature up in oppression and violence and expect a wholly complete, peaceful human being on the other side.
“There’s going to be ripples and repercussions and that’s what we’re seeing with the play.”
As extreme and even cartoonish as the characters can be, are they realistic and recognisable?
“Absolutely, 100%.
“They’re so human and especially their relationship together really shows the humanity and it shows the everyday, sisterly back and forth that happens as kind of bloodshed and horror is happening around them.
“They are maybe doing horrific things, then they bicker about Tayto crisps and you go, ‘That’s exactly how I speak to my brother. That’s exactly how I speak to my sister’.
“We never lose sight of the very normal, everyday bouncing back and forth between people which is hilarious.”
Tell us about Alanna. Of the two sisters Fianna was able to leave which meant Alannah had to stay..
“Fianna was made to leave because of something that happened in the family home that was deeply traumatic in their early years.
“Fianna took the full blame for that situation.
“Alannah is the one who stays in the family home as a sense of duty.
“There was still a father to look after and there’s a big conflict between the two sisters when it comes to that because both feel like the victim in the situation.
“Fianna feels cast out and an outcast in her own family home while Alannah feels like the day Fianna left was her final opportunity to get out.
“The father is a monster and she was the one left to pick up the pieces so that’s a big conflict and it’s really interesting to see two people who deeply believe themselves to be the victim and not the other and years of pent up feelings about the other person when it comes to that.
“It’s such a nice dynamic and then they’re in the room for five minutes and they can’t help but kind of go back into their back and forth.
“They want to hate each other but I think there’s so much deep love and there’s a big discussion about self sacrifice within the play as well.
“When you feel like you have sacrificed your entire being and the other person turns around and goes, ‘I never asked you to do that and actually, I think I’ve sacrificed everything for you’.
“And is there really a clean answer to that?
“I think Meghan does that really well in their writing.
“It would be very easy to angle something like this in a much more clear way where you have a very clear hero or a very clear victim and maybe you’d be able to wrap it up neater but this show is not neat, it’s quite the opposite.
“It’s very much an explosion of rage and years of pent up anger and frustration and the only person who is the true monster is the father.
“Yet with all kinds of trauma and victims of abuse, often we point the fingers and misdirect that kind of anger and rage to other people.
“I think them finding each other after that pent up hatred of each other is a really lovely thing to see them gradually realise that neither of them are the problem.”
The play’s subject matter may not sound like a comedy but it is such a Northern Irish trait to find humour in the bleakness, isn’t it?
“Such a Northern Irish trait, absolutely and the play is deeply funny.
“I also think it’s probably why they find their way back to each other as sisters because, with trauma and laughing at these horrible things, you need someone to laugh with.
“They had been so isolated from each other and from everyone before this point that, especially with Alannah my character: So housebound, completely isolated from everyone and really performing a sense of duty and feeling as though she’s stuck in purgatory as this kind of self punishment for what happened years ago when Fianna left.
“There was no way to laugh at it.
“When we first meet Alannah, she has these sad crisps.
“She has Taytos that are stored away in a cupboard that she only is allowed to eat when she’s sad.
“And you see her trying to find ways to process her feelings but because she’s so isolated, the first time she can fully process it and actually talk about it and then find humour in it is when her sister comes in.
“And Fianna is so dark humour.
“Fianna will laugh at everything.
“She’s kind of that real, ‘If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’ mentality which is so true and she really gives Alanna space to do that which is really nice.
“She also destroys her Tayto crisps, destroys her sad crisps, which I think is a lovely symbolism that she won’t need them anymore because she has someone to process with.
“But yeah, absolutely dark humour.
“It is so funny.
“I mean you’ll come and you will laugh the whole way through, probably even laughing at stuff that you’re like, ‘I really shouldn’t be laughing at it but it is hilarious’.
“We’ve really found that in Northern Irish humour, I think.”
Going back to the portrayal of abuse, Meghan says herself it’s not the kind of thing where the spotlight falls on the character and they tell all about what happened..
“Yeah, it’s not preachy and it’s not dealt with with a glorifying lens.
“It’s thrown in to a random part of a conversation.
“That’s what happened in this house and that’s how we deal with it.
“As well, the honesty of how these women deal with it, the aftermath now in the play where we meet them.
“I think we all will recognise that small voice, like that little wild, dark side of us that we always ignore and, especially if you have suffered what these two young women have suffered, everyone will recognise that voice.
“No one is going to say that it’s not there, it’s very much deep in the belly of any survivor.
“They just answer that call, that little dark voice and kind of it leads them to wild spaces but that is the true honesty of it that I think Meghan has somehow managed to kind of get which is quite rare.
“I don’t know if you can (overcome trauma).
“What’s really sad about kind of these two women is no matter what they do, no matter what wild, kind of crazy thing they do to rip the root out it still then lives in them and they have to deal with the repercussions and their life will change forever because of it.
“They choose a particularly violent attempt and even that attempt, their lives will now change from the end of the show until whoever knows.
“They never got over it.
“Especially because they were separated, they never dealt with it and now they’re back in the same room for the first time and the floodgates open.”
Crocodile Fever runs 17 October- 22 November at Arcola Theatre.
For more information and to book, click here.
