Theres always a plethora of musicals on the most unlikely subjects at the Fringe. Youll either love this one or youll hate it. The one thing you wont do is come out feeling indifferent. I didnt see the original play by Brad Fraser so I went along without any critical baggage, so to speak. Adapted and superbly directed by Russell Labey (New Boy) its the story of David and Bernie, two teenagers who meet up in a high security psychiatric hospital. David is the wolf boy of the title, seriously disturbed, strapped to his bed when we first meet him, and with a Hannibal Lecter style gag across his mouth. Bernie has attempted suicide by slashing his wrists (for the second time, it transpires), his mental state the result of years of sexual abuse by his older brother. It is the strange, psycho-sexual relationship between these two that is the main thrust of the story. It is, in turns, highly erotic and frightening, touching on sado-masochism and lycanthropy and redemption. This must be the first musical where a boy sings while being beaten across the back with a belt by another boy. The fact that it works is down to two incredible performances by Paul Holowaty as David, and Gregg Lowe as Bernie. Holowaty exudes pure evil while Lowe with his pretty Peter Pan complexion hides a violent sadistic side as well. When he first sits astride the shackled David and beats him with his fists, simply because he has the power, you get more than a hint of the anger that has built up in him over his years of abuse. Davids problem is that he thinks hes a wolf. Not the kind that grows teeth and hair and goes mad at the first sight of the full moon - no, thats silly, he says. He hates joggers and has bitten one. Well, who wouldnt want to? The most sane people end up in mental hospitals, apparently. He is obsessed with the Bela Lugosi movie of the title, and this film appears to have been showing at a cinema near him on a quite a regular basis. When his best friend died, he didnt go to the funeral, but back to see the film. I told you he was disturbed.You wont come out singing the tunes. Theyre largely chunks of sung dialogue, but they work amazingly well within the confines of the uncomfortable subject matter. Leon Parris, who wrote the music and lyrics, has created some very dark songs within a dark tale. The most chilling one is performed by Gregg Lowe as he sits on the edge of the bed in his pyjama trousers, laying out playing cards, reciting his years of abuse. When he was nine, his brother was fourteen....when he was eleven, his brother was....and so on. Their mother is dead, their father has left them. And now Bernie is seventeen and its still going on. No wonder he would rather stay in the hospital than go home with his brother Christian, played by Lee Latchford Evans, who has the first song in the show - Is there anything I can do? It transpires that brother Christian has done enough. The relationship between the two brothers does need a bit more resolution, an emotional showdown of some kind. This musical was originally much longer, so perhaps something had to go. And the nurse, played by Katie Beard in a non-singing role, doesnt really have too much to do. But these are minor quibbles. This is a show of astonishing power that perhaps owes a little to Sweeney Todd at the end, but it nevertheless left me gasping. And the singing is excellent. The five stars Im giving it are a purely personal preference, but be warned, you may not like it.
