Storefront Fringe – The Boogeyman
If you’re in search for a scary story to tell, looking at real life events may be a good place to start. Tyler Mathews is a Kingston playwright who stumbled upon the story of American serial killer Albert Fish (or The Boogeyman as he was sometimes known), and latched onto the story due to his interest in exploring the darkest human impulses.
The first thing that is made clear upon entering the venue for The Boogeyman is that this show is not for the faint of heart. A content warning is placed at the entrance, warning that the show contains discussion of sexual abuse, child molestation, and cannibalism. The story centres around the Budd family, who welcomes Albert Fish into their home, thinking him to be a potential employer. Fish then lures the child Grace Budd to his home under the guise of a birthday party, and her parents, desperate to impress Fish, allow her to go. Although there is definitely violence depicted onstage, the cannibalism of Grace Budd is not shown, but rather, spoken about in Fish’s famous letter to Grace’s mother describing what he had done to her daughter.
The Boogeyman features actors from Kingston, including Michael Catlin who was both charming and terrifying as Albert Fish, and Daniela Rojas as the young Grace Budd. Director Jordan Prentice is also a Kingston local. Mathews’ writing presents an emotional challenge especially for actor Madeline Ferris, who plays Grace’s mother, Diana, and Ferris definitely rises to the occasion. The action in the play progresses very quickly, although the short bursts of action (such as the opening scene, which lasts about ten seconds) followed by transitions in which actors move furniture in a blackout do make me wonder if the script would be better serviced as a short film.
Mathews is drawn towards dark stories, with his play from last year’s Storefront Fringe Festival focusing on domestic abuse. A question that often comes up with such dark content is the question of why it needs to exist—but Mathews is more interested in letting the audience interpret his piece however they please. “I don’t have a goal, I don’t have a message… I’m just trying to say that this happened, and take what you want from it.”
Putting shocking or upsetting content on stage or screen can be extremely powerful, and there are many good reasons for doing so—for example, to give back power to traditionally underprivileged groups (ie. The Lady in the Red Dress by David Yee) or to comment upon a larger issue within society (ie. Scorsese’s Taxi Driver). However, it’s vital to acknowledge the power that art and media can have on people. If you’re going to put audiences and performers in a situation where they could suffer emotional harm, you have to have a good reason to do so. In this way, I think theatre should be treated with the same guidelines that researchers must follow—if anything you’re going to do may cause harm, you need to start out by identifying the risks, and give a strong argument as to why the risks are worth the potential harm. With The Boogeyman, whether or not the playwright had a goal in mind while writing it, the team needs to acknowledge the impact that it will leave on its audience.