Crocodile Fever at Gaslight Theatre Cambridge a bold, absurdist hit

Fianna (Clare Collins) contemplates her return to the family home.

What: Crocodile Fever, by Meghan Tyler

Presented by: Cambridge Repertory Theatre

When: Until May 16

Where: Gaslight Theatre, Cambridge

Tickets: Online via eventfinda.co.nz/2026/crocodile-fever/waikato

Reviewed by Cate Prestidge

This dark comedy by emerging Irish playwright and actor, Meghan Tyler was first staged at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and has been garnering attention ever since.

Staging its New Zealand premiere is a bold and exciting choice for the Cambridge Repertory Society.

The play is set in 1989 against a background of “The Troubles” and the continuing threat of the “paras” on the community of Omagh.

When Alannah’s (Jo Bishop) feisty younger sister Fianna (Clare Collins) returns home after a long absence to celebrate the apparent death of hated monster, Da (David Moore), Alannah’s tidy, repressed world cracks open - and no one is happy about it.

The play starts as a domestic drama, a study of contrasts between the personalities and experiences of Fianna (the one who got away) and Alannah (the one who stayed).

Fianna’s reappearance is an effort to address some of the lingering issues from their childhood, and there’s a lot of initial comedy in the contrasts between them.

Fianna is all boots and bravado, a stark foil to Alannah’s meticulous, well-ordered life inside the home.

Collins makes the most of the physicality of Fianna, confidently stomping about the kitchen, swigging, effing and blinding.

Her expansiveness contrasts with Bishop, who pulls Alannah in tight, stammering, fussing over minuscule spots and nibbling, pinched and mouselike, on her beloved crisps.

Overlooking the proceedings above the fireplace is the portrait of their late Ma.

Alannah (Jo Bishop) meticulously slices a loaf of bread in her pristine kitchen.

Flanked by biblical images, her character is central to the plot and inserted in clever ways.

However, it’s revealed early on that Fianna has been away for a long time due to a significant crime that affected the entire family.

The subsequent twists and turns in the plot spin the play into more surreal black comedy, taking the kitchen sink drama into a more absurdist, violent hit back at suppression and trauma, both political and domestic.

The gallows humour and theme of finding light in the extreme dark is something the playwright said makes the Irish the funniest people in the world.

On stage, it’s expressed through rapid-fire dialogue delivered in well-managed Irish accents - it’s excellent acting from the two leads.

The British 'para' (Matt Silvester) makes a raid on the Devlin house.

As Da, Devlin is suitably menacing and disruptive when he emerges, and there are several technical surprises and a well-constructed, realistic set which suits the script and enhances the emotions on stage.

Steve McMurray has done a good job directing the cast, especially with the huge amounts of script Bishop and Collins must master – it’s an ambitious undertaking.

There’s a big range of emotions and while a little background on the Irish context is handy, it’s not necessary to follow along.

A couple of areas could have had faster transitions, like starting the music earlier, coming into Act 2, and I feel that one of the characters near the end could have been made more representative and enhanced with light and shadows or other more symbolic approaches (no spoilers!).

Overall, the play is both intensely realistic and completely absurd.

We should applaud the boldness of Gaslight Repertory Society for bringing it to the stage.

Cate Prestidge is a principal academic and co-ordinator of journalism and communication programmes at Wintec. She has been writing theatre reviews for NZME since 2021.