Walking Shadow invites you to a thrilling "Feast"

No local theater company has cut a swath quite like Walking Shadow. They have produced award-winning productions, clever Fringe shows, and a number of experienced-based entertainments. Cabal, the company’s magic-based escape room, is still going strong, while the Pandemic brought REBOOT, a Zoom-based show where I got to interview a nascent, self-aware artificial intelligence

Feast, their latest show now running at the Black Forest Inn, merges the company’s different aspects. At it’s core, it is a one-woman show about grief, revenge, and humanity. It also offers a pre-Feast feast at the Black Forest Inn. Most importantly, it is absolutely brilliant.

Megan Gogerty’s play riffs on Beowulf, turning the action away from the titular hero and onto one of the “villains” of the piece, Grendel’s mother. (If you need a quick Beowulf recap: Grendel attacks some noisy Norsemen. Beowulf come in, takes down the monster, and then defeats the monster’s mother in an epic battle beneath a lake. Typical hero stuff.)

She has resurrected herself – made a new body of clay – and has gathered the descendants of those present that terrible day to tell her side of the story. This includes recasting her son as a man not about angry violence but one interested in stubbornly defending what he thought was right, to recounting her abhorrence when she saw her son’s arm, hanging as a trophy on the wall.

Beowulf is fertile ground for a feminist recounting, as the epic reduces its female antagonist to little more than a nameless mother of a monster. Gogerty digs deep not only into the love a mother has for a son, but the natural anger against those who hurt him.

Isabel Nelson uses this framework for a terrific performance. From the moment she staggers onto the stage until the character’s eventual epiphany, Nelson commands every inch of the playing area. The script is at turns funny, tragic, and frightening, and the performer captures every nuance of that in her performance.

It’s aided by Allison Vincent’s tight direction, that keeps the show on track, even if Gogerthy’s script loses focus for a time near the end. The minimal staging – a table and a handful of props – further intensify the performance and the story.

While this certainly isn’t traditional “dinner theater,” the pre-show meal certainly adds to the experience, as it plays not only into the concept of the play, but replicates the experience where stories like Beowulf were often shared. (There are also show-only seats at each performance, and while those patrons don’t get a meal, they do get a mid-show cookie.) 

With a small venue and limited run, tickets are extremely limited.
Feast has been extended to April 1. In addition, Walking Shadow’s John Heimbuch will present a one-man Beowulf on March 18, 25, and April 1 prior to the meal. Tickets and more information can be found at Walking Shadow’s website.