Have you ever wondered why Rapunzel ended up in that tower? Why Little Red Riding Hood somehow survived against the Big Bag Wolf? Why ravens were actually Cinderella’s first friends? Well look no further than the Grimm’s Spectacularthon to answer these questions (or at least to give you a good laugh and display excellent acting)! This performance, hosted by Cairn’s drama club, was a rollicking, explosive, lively romp through the Grimm’s fairy tales all mashed together like a home-knit sweater with too many different pieces of colored yarn. 

Who led the audience through this confusing and fascinating franken-fairytale? Why, the narrators, of course! I’ll call the one “Chaos incarnate in a Cool Jacket” and the other “Order in a Fancy Suit” for reasons. They guided the haphazard story and offered interruptions, playful commentary, and some blessed breakage of the fourth-wall. 

The narrative opened with a girl who had a very bad habit of trusting in and making deals with some evil beings, thinking they could solve all of her problems. One of the deals promised an enchantress her firstborn daughter. (Because that’ll end well.)

The girl grew up and married a prince with an obsession with golfing, but soon, the enchantress comes for the firstborn daughter to lock her away in a tower like, you guessed it, Rapunzel! Then another prince came to save her but got chucked out of the window of the tower (non-lethally; no actors or actresses were harmed in the performance of this production). Then, their child goes on to be another figure in some of the other stories. 

The narrators tried to explain and connect each person in this eldritch amalgamation of a fairytale. At one point, Miss “Chaos Incarnate” and Miss “Order” were taken from their positions of narrators and thrown into the story as Dwarves, but they quickly reclaimed their (metaphorical) thrones once more. 

Shenanigans like a princess calling out her father’s toxic “nice guy” syndrome, a unicorn getting shot (Rest In Peace Sparkles) and Crab People plotting world domination–

Wait, are there even Crab People in Grimm’s fairytales?

–delighted and dazzled the audience. In fact, the Narrators encouraged audience participation. They would hold up signs for the audience to shout “Don’t go in there!” to warn our intrepid yet not-so-bright protagonists, or make noises such as “Ch-ch-ch-ch- Ah-ah-ah-ah” to act as background music for the tense and scary scenes. 

There might have been a bit too much audience participation, though. At several points, an audience member (secretly another actress of course) would stand up and shout out warnings for the characters against any evil sneaking their way. In fact, the narrators allowed her the part of  the hunter in Little Red Riding Hood, and they gave her an ax to handle the Big Bad Wolf. Never have I seen such glee and gusto in someone’s eyes on being handed an ax. 

The play ended with an astonishing feat of acting brilliance. In the scene of Cinderella, no actors were left (purposefully), and so a talented young man performed as each character in the story with an assortment of wigs, outfits, and diverse accents. He dashed back and forth across the stage in the name of acting, and his efforts (as well as the entire cast) were rewarded with a standing ovation. 

Each person acted with excellence and I am grateful for the opportunity to witness them shine onstage. Thank you Cairn’s Drama club for the fun and fantastical time!

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 

~1 Corinthians 10:31