Reviews of shows from the New York International Fringe Festival will appear on ArtsBeat through the festival’s close on Aug. 25. For more information, go to fringenyc.org.
Poor Perceval apparently didn’t have as good a publicist as some other Knights of the Round Table did, but he gets title-character treatment from a troupe called the Immediate Family in this spunky, stripped-down show.
In “Perceval,†four actors and a one-woman orchestra serve up the tale, a fast-moving sampling of various treatments that Perceval’s pursuit of the Holy Grail has been given over the centuries. (Haas Regen, who plays the better known Galahad in the show, wrote the adaptation.)
Michael Propster’s Perceval is funny and likable, and Gillian Williams is downright spooky as Kundry, the wild-eyed woman who flits in and out of the story. Elizabeth King-Hall propels it all along in multiple roles, the best of which is an overenthusiastic modern-day scholar who breaks the fourth wall now and again to explain the various sourcing â€" literature, Wagnerian opera, films â€" and the action.
If anything, the show needs a little more of Ms. King-Hall’s guidance; things go by pretty quickly, and keeping up is a challenge. But it’s smart, droll theater on a shoestring, and Mackenzie Shivers’s eclectic musical accompaniment is a nice touch.
“Perceval†continues through Aug. 25 at the Kraine Theater, 85 East Fourth Street, East Village.
