10th Annual Spring Break Theatre Festival
Vancouver TheatreSports League

The 3 Little Fairy Tales

Dates 21 March 2007 Venue Surrey Arts Centre Reviewer Heidi Hoff


In true West Coast tradition, Vancouver delivered rain during spring break. One of the best no-fail indoor activities on days like this is to catch some live entertainment. Thankfully, you don’t have to look too hard to find quality shows geared to kids and you don’t always have to travel all the way downtown.

Three members of the Vancouver TheatreSports League demonstrated some fun improvisational exercises during their performance of The Three Little Fairy Tales. The premise is to explore the various twists and turns a standard fairy tale can take by changing certain aspects of the story through suggestions from audience members.
Jack and the Beanstalk became Jack and the Flower Seeds. Using only a selection of wigs and hats, Ian and Noah stuck to the basics of the story but only had one minute in which to perform it. Using a stop watch, cast member Alex timed the duo but cut their allotted time in half with each repeat performance until they were down to mere seconds.

Hansel and Gretel became a tale about a brother and sister who ran away to avoid boarding school. The story of Robin Hood took liberal and hilarious detours. Audience members were involved to the fullest and made for a lighthearted 45 minute performance full of belly laughs. Though TheatreSports is usually reserved for adult audiences, the three cast members related well to the school age and below set. I bet many of the fun exercises demonstrated were picked up and incorporated into a day’s imaginary play. I know they were in our home.

© 2007 Heidi Hoff