Theater: The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ)

Moscow seems like a fairytale to twenty year old Annie, an American in search of her roots. But when the lines between Russian fairytales and Annie’s reality start to blur - and then vanish – things get seriously dicey.  

The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls is unlike anything you have ever seen. On our stage, or any others. It's strange. But in the best possible way.

One of the first things you should know about this play (other than the use of fairy tales) is that the playwright, Meg Miroshnik is the winner of the 2010 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition (possibly the best fast track to a professional career a playwright can take) and was just announced as one of 10 finalists of the prestigious 2011-2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize -  an award that honors a new English-language play by a female playwright - the winner of which will be announced on February 28th. Basically, you know it's going to be good, even by professional critique standards.


Here's a promo video:

I first found out about this play through this article HERE and, as it caught my imagination so well, I thought I'd give you a couple of larger excerpts than usual in the hopes it would do the same for you (emphasis in bold is mine):

The best way to learn a language is through immersion. And you could make the argument that the best way to explore a nation’s artistic roots is to study its folk tales. Should the folk tales be read in their native language, all the better. 

So for seven years, aspiring playwright Meg Miroshnik went to Moscow to work as a writer and learn Russian. She spent afternoons hunkered down in the children’s section of a Moscow bookstore, trying to decipher rudimentary Russian storybooks. She read tales of the evil witch Baba Yaga, and yarns about the little girl Masha and the dangerous bear. 

Looking back, Miroshnik is not sure how much those narratives helped her learn to speak Russian. But the stories of treacherous witches and menacing bears stoked Miroshnik’s imagination and fueled her dark sense of humor. 

...On its face, the premise of the play is simple: A young woman who was born in Russia but raised in the United States moves back to connect with her roots. She takes a room in an apartment building, and the woman she boards with carries a striking resemblance to Baba Yaga. And that is where the play becomes an experience in magical realism. As the young woman meets other residents, their lives have much in common with characters in Russian fairy tales. 

But the stories Miroshnik weaves are far from sweet. One woman is the captive of an overbearing, cruel boyfriend (the bear from Masha?). Another is a prostitute whose nature suggests fairy godmother. There are magical potatoes that Miroshnik describes as “low-tech theater magic,” and there are a few moments that owe a debt to horror movies, she said. 

“The metaphors are side by side with the more fantastical elements of the play,” said Miroshnik, who is originally from Minneapolis. “It’s a very dark play, but it’s also funny. None of the characters are victims.” 

As much as this play is rooted in fantasy, it owes a great debt to the women of modern Russia, who have been swept aside and pushed forward by the upheaval there. 

...Miroshnik spent as much time reading children’s books in Moscow as she did people watching. She was particularly drawn to the plight of its women and the contrast of their circumstances. 

“You would see these female pensioners begging on the street because there was no room for them in the new Russia,” Miroshnik said. 

Stalking down the same street would be the new, moneyed women of Moscow, which became one of the lasting images of the city for Miroshnik. 

“They were the brightly feathered birds of that city, out wearing stilettos in six inches of snow,” Miroshnik said. 

This young playwright has envisioned an enchanted world where all these women pull from their past to create a new folk tale of modern Russia.

1st release cover

Czech cover

 You can read the whole article (recommended) HERE.




While I have no doubt it's completely original and very different, I can't help being reminded of one of my favorite books by Ekaterina Sedia, The Secret History of Moscow. This is one of those fairy tale books I think would make an amazing film, if handled correctly and by the right combination of people. From all I've seen and read, Ms. Miroshnik's Russian Girls seems to have that same potential, even with the similar subject matter.


In an interview with Encore Atlanta (HERE) Ms. Miroshnik was asked some questions I thought fairy tale readers would find interesting:

What was the inspiration behind The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls?It came from the opportunity I got to go to Moscow, study Russian and work as a freelance writer. I was struck by how quickly everything was changing there. The life expectancy for Russian men was 57 years, so there were many more women. I saw these iconic images — teenage girls standing in the snow and old women with headscarves at the market — and I was interested in colliding this world of women with both the present and past. I hit upon the idea of trapping them in the predicaments of old Russian folk tales. 

How does that relate to Annie, the show’s central character?
There was a whole generation of people who left the Soviet Union as children who came back to seek opportunities in Russia as the market was taking off. Annie’s a realistic, optimistic American who’s in this crazy situation — living with this woman who may be a girl-eating witch, living across the hall from a girl who claims her boyfriend is turning into a bear. She can be the audience’s skeptical way into this world.

You can read the whole interview HERE.

I recommend reading this article too. Living a fairytale: an American girl’s adventures in Moscow quotes a lot more from Ms. Miroshnik on her experience of living in Moscow, how it translated into writing with fairy tales and the resultant play.


In both the Encore Atlanta interview (linked above) and a video interview shown below Ms. Miroshnik talks passionately about the role of fairy tales, not just regarding her play but in life: 

"I think thematically, the question I'm interested in is: What role can fairy tales play in adult life?"

In researching for this post I found a very interesting and pertinent article from June last year, Putting Fairy Tales and Fashion in Play, which dovetails well with the ideas and characters (and use of fashion too) in this play. 




It talks about fashion model Natalia Vodianova's life - both in the difficulties and successes. While the direct fairy tale references in the article are below, it's her personal story in coming from a harsh upbringing and what she's done with it that parallels her life with many fairy tale heroines:

Life has been bittersweet... Yet Ms. Vodianova, with a steely character behind the sweet face and child-like body, still believes in Russian fairy tales and fables, with their complex dragons and firebirds. 

To mirror that magical reality, the model asked 40 designers to each create a dress for the White Fairy Tale Love Ball, a Russian-inspired fund-raiser that will take place near Paris during the July haute couture season at the Wideville chateau of Valentino and his partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. 

 

Forty one-of-a-kind dresses, all inspired by fairy tales, will be auctioned for the charity by Christie’s and a limited edition book will show Ms. Vodianova in the dresses, photographed by Paolo Roversi. 

“Being still a Russian little girl inside, I wanted to create something around my love of fairy tales,” said Ms. Vodianova, who called on her fashion choreographer friend Alex de Betak to design a winter’s tale set.

The article focuses a lot on her life, the difficulties and tragedies she's overcome and what she's doing to change that for children in her homeland. Interestingly, because of her ability to get influential people to help, she's now seen as a sort of modern Robin Hood with her efforts to help those in need, especially through her foundation Naked Heart. 

You can read the whole article HERE and see more of the dresses from a special photoshoot for the 2011 Fundraiser Ball HERE and HERE. 

(Gosh it was hard to choose which ones to post! Especially knowing they're each inspired by a Russian fairy tale. I wish I knew which ones.) 

In the mood to read some Russian fairy tales now? HERE is a good place to start.


The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ) is playing now through February 26th at Alliance Theater at the Woodruff in Atlanta, GA. You can find ticket and showtime information HERE.

Twyla Tharp's "The Princess and the Goblin"

Twyla Tharp! (Fangirl squee!)

Ahem.

Anyone who has ever followed ballet and dance will be more than aware of legendary American choreographer Twyla Tharp. There's a good chance, even if you're not a dance fanatic, that you've seen some of her work in various movies and musicals [Hair (1978), Ragtime (1980), Amadeus (1984), White Nights (1985), Movin' Out (2002), Come Fly With Me (2010)] as well.

Still working hard at 70, Ms. Tharp spent last Summer choreographing and rehearsing her new full length fairy tale based ballet, The Princess and the Goblin (based on George MacDonald's fairy tale of the same name) with Atlanta Ballet. It's the first time in her fifty-year-long career that Ms. Tharp will have used children in a production.

Twyla Tharp (age 66) photographed by Annie Leibovitz

Commissioned by the ballet in conjunction with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the work is based on George MacDonald’s late 19th-century children’s tale of the same name.

“[MacDonald] came to my attention through several sources about 20 years ago because I was looking for a narrative that would apply to children,” Tharp, a New York resident, said in a statement. “This ballet will in fact be the story of a girl’s coming of age. It’s a traditional Romantic-era tale, but it’s always a male who comes of age, from Goethe on. I would say that when it was first suggested, that this might be a ballet I had to think very hard about it. Although it was written 200 years ago, there are elements in it that are timeless and that are very relevant.” (Source)

Here's a synopsis from Atlanta Ballet Blog:

The Princess and the Goblin by PJ Lynch 

Arrogant King Papa has let his vanity get the best of him.  As he and his courtiers increasingly absorb themselves with frivolous parties and protocols, they remain oblivious to the disturbing fact that their own children have gone missing.  Unable to make King Papa realize his arrogance and ignorance, young Princess Irene decides to take action. 

Together with her Great Grandmother, her best friend Curdie, and a little bit of faith, Irene ventures deep into the underworld – the Goblin kingdom – to rescue the forgotten children.  Proving that faith and goodness can triumph over evil and tyranny, Irene frees the children and teaches the adults a valuable lesson about humility and forgiveness.

You can read a little more about the creation of the ballet and what it was like for the dancers to work with Ms. Tharp HERE and see some rehearsal photos HERE. (No production photos as yet but I'm very curious to see what it will look like!)

I also recommend watching this lovely short video on Ms. Tharp and her creation of the ballet below:



The family friendly ballet makes it's world premiere next week on February 10 at The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Atlanta GA. Ticket information is HERE.

"Mirror Mirror" Changes Release Date Again

Mirror Mirror has just had another change in its release date.

It recently went from June 29th to March 16th (see poster above) but has now been pushed back a couple of weeks to March 30. (I guess they'll have to have another print run of all the promo material.) This means there will now be 9 weeks between it and Snow White and the Huntsman instead of the previous 11.

From IBN Live:

Both studios are betting that the audiences won't overlap. After Relativity cut the gap, Universal did not immediately change its planned June 1 release. 

Most movies make the majority of their ticket sales in the first few weeks after they debut. Still, Hollywood is betting the quick turnaround won't turn off people who might want to see both movies. 

Relativity said the date change puts 'Mirror Mirror' within a week of the potentially lucrative Easter weekend. The studio also said the change made sense given a recent reshuffling of other movies, such as 'The Raven', which will now come out on April 27 instead of March 9.

As J.R.D.S. commented recently, a widget calendar with movie and book release updates would indeed be extremely handy with both the volume of fairy tale products and all the shuffling happening inbetween!

Article: A Short History of Beauty and the Beast in Pop Culture

La Belle et la Bête (1946)

Easy to read and navigate this article does a nice job of highlighting the "big" Beauty and the Beast pop culture highlights from its beginnings. La Belle et la Bête is hard to beat for me, though seeing a contemporary dance performance choreographed by Graeme Murphy for the Sydney Dance Company, in Australia, came close. (Neither that ballet or any other Beauty & the Beast dance work appears on the list unfortunately.)

Go over and have a look at A Short History of Beauty and the Beast in Pop Culture. It's highlights only, not a definitive works/major works timeline and will be nothing new to readers of this blog but it's great to see all in one place.

A little more obscure is this article, also by Flavorwire, of "Beauty and the Beast-style" Love on Film.


Knowing Beauty and the Beast is a personal favorite of Heidi Anne Heiner's (of SurLaLune fame), I'd love to see a visual-plus-notes pop culture timeline from her. (Like she hasn't got a gazillion things on her plate already! We're REALLY looking forward to her Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World anthology which she aims to have out sometime this year.)

In the meantime, I found this little gem below, showing various incarnations of Beast over the years for comparison. Originator unfortunately unknown, though I did find it HERE. (Sorry about the resolution. It's as large as I could make it without the image pixilating badly.)

Illustrations by Walter Crane, Rebecca Guay, Ron Embleton, Nilesh Mistry, Judy Riggenbach, Glen Keane, Warwick Goble, Anne Grahame Johnstone, Edmund Dulac, Eleanor Vere Boyle, Paul Woodroffe, Errol Le Cain, Anne Anderson, Kirsi Salonen, Scott Gustafson, Alicechan, Margaret Tarrant, and various Anonymous

Now with Once Upon A Time about to make their mark and two Beauty & the Beast TV series projects currently in development, there are only going to be more...

Here's the Once Upon A Time promo (somewhat spoilery) for the February 12th Beauty and the Beast Valentine-themed episode (photo previews, also with slight spoilers HERE):

Article/Lecture: Haunting Scottish Ballads "Empower" Women

We're speaking specifically about Tam Lin, of course, as well as Tam O'Shanter. I would love to go hear this lecture!

Here are some excerpts from the article:

An academic is to explore why Scotland's cultural heritage is full of sex and the supernatural. 

Dr Donna Heddle said she also found "interesting patterns of female empowerment" while researching works for a lecture at Celtic Connections.

... Dr Heddle said: "This lecture is about the shape-shifting supernatural creatures like selkies and faeries which inhabit Scottish ballads such as Tam Lin and Robert Burns' Tam o' Shanter. 

"I'll be discussing their nature, their history in oral ballads and their legacy in written literature. 

"I'll also be exploring what these creatures and their associations with sex say about the society that created them, asking why do the Scots need the dark and sexy world of the supernatural?" 

The academic said that as well as finding the male and female supernatural beings she had expected to find in the literature, she also "noted some interesting patterns of female empowerment".

Now you want to go too, don't you? :)

Dr Heddle will give her free lecture - called Selkies, shapeshifters and sex - later at the Glasgow Royal Concert Halls during the music and arts festival.

If you're in Glasgow at the time, please go and take some notes! I'll happily post them if you do.

It's a bit difficult to pick which parts of this article to highlight for you so I suggest, if you like Tam Lin and/or Celtic supernatural folk tales (or sexy Scottish folk tales), that you just go ahead and read the whole article HERE. I'd love to see a video, or a transcript, or even some notes from this lecture.

I wonder if there are any Scottish film people working on Celtic fairy tales right now? Though The Devil's Widow (1970) did an interesting, if "rather 60's inspired", version of Tam Lin I'd love to see someone tackle it smartly and artistically today.

The beautiful artwork shown here is by Moscow-based artist, Julia Menshikova and is apparently work in progress, though I haven't seen any more added to this since 2009 (yes, it's been in my little private digital scrapbook of random Tam Lin illustrations for that long!). You can see more of her work, all quite different, HERE, she has a beautiful blog HERE and a lovely lovely Livejournal site HERE in which she shows many works in progress.

A Very "Grimm" Hansel & Gretel Tonight

After a week's break, NBC's Grimm returns tonight with a dark version of Hansel and Gretel (yes, a grimm version - even for this fairy tale!). 

While Nick and Hank investigate the murder of a teenager, the stakes are raised when two vagrant teens go missing.

The episode is titled "Organ Grinder" and features a creature which has an unusual use for human organs - not quite your "typical" black market donor stuff!

Hansel and Gretel (called Hanson and Gracie) will be played by Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids) and Hannah Marks.

I'm not posting the preview clip because it's a little on the gory side (visuals not violence) but you can find the main preview HERE, a couple more HERE and some promotional photos HERE.

Very curious if Grimm will be using any version of candy houses or allude to a trail of breadcrumbs...

Fairy Tale Art by Julie Dillon

Frog Prince

The piece above, Frog Prince by Julie Dillon, is one I've been meaning to post for quite some time now. Apart from being an amazing illustration, it's one of the few in which the actual transformation from frog to man is shown. Plus I ADORE transformation stories and am fascinated by what someone might see if a transformation from beast to man (or man to beast) happened right in front of them.

Treasure From the Deep - not specifically a fairy tale piece but I can think of a few tales this reminds me of

Since Ms. Dillon is also featured on the tor.com website today (with an illustration for a short science fiction story, Uncle Flower's Homecoming Waltz) I thought I'd showcase some of her fairy tale work here too.

Snow, Glass, Apples (Interior) for Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's booklet/perfume set with Neil Gaiman's short story. There is a very dark cover HERE as well.

Reassurance - again, not specifically a fairy tale piece but there are a few tales it would work with, including Beauty & the Beast

She has quite a few Alice pieces, both from Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I love the lion and unicorn one.

The Lion and the Unicorn

Alice

Alice and the Queen of Hearts

As you can see, her style lends itself beautifully to both fantasy and science fiction. Her work pops up everywhere, from magazines to covers and more and I think we're only going to see more from this talented artist. 

Surface - not specifically a fairy tale piece but it instantly made me think of The Marsh King's Daughter

Ms. Dillon has a large gallery on deviantArt HERE and her personal website is HERE.

Fables Spin-Off "Fairest" Free Preview Now Available

Fairest Issue #3 cover art by Adam Hughes for April 2012 (just released)

Now is the time to head to your local comic book store and try out the soon-to-be-released Fables spin-off, Fairest, for FREE. The Vertigo 2012 32 page sampler is completely free and one of the four Vertigo monthlies being previewed is the brainchild of Bill Willingham. Many of the stories are apparently going to be "pre-Fables" stories so if you are curious about the Fables graphic novels but are daunted by the 100+ issues available, this is a good way to start, and we're told you don't need to know anything about the Fables world to enjoy it. If you're a dedicated Fables fan you can also put your fears to rest. Mr. Willingham assures there will be plenty of surprises for you too.

In case you haven't heard of Fairest before, here's the copy:

New York Times best-selling, award-winning creator Bill Willingham presents a new series starring the female FABLES. Balancing horror, humor and adventure, FAIREST explores the secret histories of Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Snow Queen, Thumbelina, Snow White, Rose Red and others. 

The first 6-issue arc follows the misadventures of Briar Rose after she is stolen away by the goblin army in FABLES #107. Fan-favorite artist Phil Jimenez (WONDER WOMAN, THE INVISIBLES) returns to Vertigo to pencil the opening storyline. Award-winning cover artist Adam Hughes (WONDER WOMAN, BATGIRL) provides covers, starting with a wraparound cover on issue #1. 

Future arcs will be written by 2011 Arthur C. Clarke winner Lauren Beukes with art by Inaki Miranda, and iZOMBIE scribe Chris Roberson with art by Shawn McManus! And remember: They may be beautiful, but there will be blood. 

story by BILL WILLINGHAM
art by PHIL JIMENEZ
cover by ADAM HUGHES
PRICE: $2.99
IN STORES: March 7, 2012

In an interview HERE from January 20, 2012, Bill Willingham talks about his plans for Fairest, including the writers and artists, their approaches to the stories and his use (and other writers' uses) of fairy tales in this new "sister-series". Here are three excerpts that caught my attention:

Fairest Issue #1 wrap-around cover art by Adam Hughes for March 2012 

Let's understand that the tone and the diversity will come from the writers themselves because we're not assigning them stories. We're not saying, "Here, do a Cinderella story and have this, this, and this happen to her." It's more, "Do you have a Cinderella story?" Of course with Chris and Shawn, not only were able to answer yes to one of those, they were able to answer yes to many of those. That's the same template with the others. Lauren Beukes had a very particular Japanese mythology-based, folklore-based Rapunzel story in mind, which answers the question, "Where does the wishing well come from?" and it answers it nicely with a very sound folkloric base. We said, "Yes, of course that has to be what that story is!" These are different characters; we want them to be considered wildly different. We don't want a bunch of cookie-cutter beautiful female leads, we want vastly different ones, so having different writers is obviously the way to do that.

...Why did you want to tell the story of Sleeping Beauty in this very first arc rather than, say, Spratt or any of the other characters?

Well, interestingly enough I didn't think about Sleeping Beauty -- if I was to be one of the regular returning people in this rotation I was going to go with Thumbelina. The idea of a tiny character in a very big world appealed to me and I think there's a lot you can do with that that hasn't been explored yet. But Thumbelina couldn't really be the first arc in this because one thing we discussed is, if we are going to do this we've left poor Briar Rose sleeping away for years if not forever. So the very first thing we have to do with "Fairest" is get her awake and back in action, and we thought it was politic to kick off the series with me doing the first arc. So that's why those two combined together. We have a very specific place where all three of those characters -- Ali Baba, Briar Rose the Sleeping Beauty and the Snow Queen -- are going to be left in at the end of this arc. But they're places where other writers can pick them up and run with them if that turns out to be the case. My job is to kind of get these characters in the right place to be part of the whole "Fairest" rotation, the whole "Fables" rotation again, and hopefully tell a good story in the process of doing that. 

Fairest #1 variant cover by Phil Jimenez with color by Romulo Fajardo Jr.

...What is it about fairytales that originally captivated you as a storyteller?

Several things. One of the, I don't know if you'd call it faults, but one of the aspects of the way I write stories that I don't think is as strong with me as it is with other writers is I don't feel I introduce characters well. It takes me a while to get to know them. With using characters that have already been established, everybody's read and knows a little bit of, "Well of course I know Snow White, at least I know this much about her." That kind of awkward, ice-breaking introductory moment at the beginning of this kind of storytelling is bypassed. We can move right beyond that into the meat of it. Sure there are some introductory aspects in that, sure this isn't the Snow White you thought you knew and this is what's happened to her lately. But that's not quite the same, because that builds more intrigue. The reader interest is already written into the equation. You don't have to romance the reader into liking that character. That's one aspect of it.

The other aspect of it is just the idea that these are folktales in every sense of that. They're not just public domain characters that anyone can use because of vast collective ownership. If everyone owned every 100% piece of this character in some kind of multiple universe overlap kind of way, everyone who wants to can come along and do their own Snow White. That kind of just absolute freedom -- it's like the universe of a million previous authors and writers and story-spinners has left this to you in their will. Why not make use of these treasures that have been handed down to you? Interestingly enough they left it to everyone else too, but that's OK! It's having a treasure trove where you can play any kind of game you want. How could I resist that?

Fairest Issue #2 cover art by Adam Hughes for April 2012

You can read the whole interview HERE (please note that there is a large gap in the middle making it look like a short article but scroll on down for the rest).


Fairest Issue #1 is scheduled to go on sale March 7, 2012.

(I'm beginning to feel like there should be a fairy tale release calendar we can collaboratively keep plugging things into somewhere online. 2012 is a busy year for fairy tales!)

"Once Upon A Time" To Air On UK's Channel 5 This Spring

Good news for UK fans who have been following via internet downloads and wishing it would air locally: Once Upon A Time will start airing in Spring in the UK.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

LONDON – British network Channel 5 has picked up the ABC Studios drama Once Upon A Time, the Snow White-themed drama from Lost and Tron Legacy writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. 

Channel 5 has acquired first run free TV rights to the show, which will air here in the spring.

Apparently Channel 5 have already started doing 60 second promos for Once as well.

I wonder if that means Australia and New Zealand will be getting Once sooner rather than later as well? The designated channels have already been chosen there but I haven't seen a starting air date yet.

You can check your own country's channel and air dates for Once Upon A Time HERE.

Thoughts On NBC's Grimm – A Mid 1st Season Review

Remember the fairy tales your parents used to tell you before bedtime? Well, those weren't stories, they were warnings.

Note: This post was written after the mid-season, 2012 New Year's return of Grimm (after Of Mouse and Man). While I find I have a lot more I'd like to say in a completely different vein (and may add at a later date) these issues have been my primary concern since the pilot and remain so as of posting today.

While ABC’s Once Upon A Time and NBC’s Grimm have been compared like rival stepsisters from the start, the two shows are really very different. Grimm airs on Friday night (traditionally known as the "kill slot") and is actually doing well in comparative ratings. It also airs later than Once does, which it should as the content is definitely more graphic and adult than the family friendly Once. Grimm's procedural-grit-with-occasional-gore angle, combined with the pursuit of justice and truth is designed to be male friendly and shake hands with audiences of Supernatural. Once is a serial-soap, focused on finding happily-ever-after, complete with fairy tale fantasy brought to life that’s doing a great job of wooing the female demographic. Interestingly, Grimm’s creators seem to have a better handle on the origins and variations of the fairy tales they use than Once and being good with research, both in mythic and real world details, is one of the things that keeps me coming back. Once, however, is all about “what’s going to happen next?” in two very different ways: a) the drama – will they/won’t they? and b) the tales – what story/character are they going to use next and how? Two avenues of suspense, one show. That’s a wallop of a fan set-up. The Grimm writing team also appears to have the ability to look beyond simply retelling tales* by creating situations and guest characters with a lot of potential BUT (and it’s a capital letter B-U-T) there just hasn't been much development in the regular cast or in a strong storyline (apart from the last two episodes, Game Ogre and Of Mouse and Man) to get people’s gotta-watch factor ticking.

One of the reasons I haven’t written much about Grimm to date is that although it was supposed to be a MOtW (Monster of the Week) procedural, using fairy tales as a springboard, it really feels like it should be a lot more, especially by now. So I’ve been waiting… And from all I’ve read in forums and from critics, I’m not the only one grinding my teeth over this.

I'm a firm believer that a good storyteller can take any story, no matter how simple, lame or ridiculous the premise and turn it into gold for their readers or listeners (yes, even the ridiculous ones). The opposite is also true: no matter how good an idea is, if the storyteller isn't up to the task it will crash and burn. In Grimm we have an excellent, even mythic at times, premise told via multiple storytellers (writers, directors, actors etc). In looking at the show critically it's easy to pick things apart (eg. wooden acting, dubious CG effects etc) but I can also see a lot they're doing right. Unfortunately it's clear the storytellers aren't performing to par and I'm not sure why. By and large, the crew on Grimm all belong to impressive alumni (Buffy, Angel, CSI, Ghost Whisperer, X-Files, Wonder Years, Star Trek, Eureka among others) and you’d think they’d collectively aim higher.

 Overall, I've been quite impressed with the approach to the fairy tale monsters used in Grimm. The writers delve into history and folklore and use subtle connections to flesh out their fantastic (ie. fantasy-based) cast. The one thing they're not doing well though is making all the difference between a guaranteed hit in today’s cultural climate and a show that's seems to be holding on by its fingernails. That one thing is a strong and unique identity.

It likely goes without saying that I will continue watching the show but other viewers, who don't have the interest I do in fairy tales (and don't mind procedures), may have trouble. To put it bluntly, Grimm really isn’t really stand out at all, at least, not in the way that it counts. Characters? Largely forgettable. Monsters? A weekly hit or miss curiosity. Tales? Miss a week no problem. These sound like huge issues but it’s not a scrap-it situation. In Grimm’s case it’s very fixable, especially since there really is so much else being done right but only if they get their booties into gear immediately and start doing the following, like, now:

Add conflict (please!)

If you're a writer you will have heard this nugget more than once: "Story is conflict!" and conflict is something Grimm needs more of - a LOT more of – and I don’t mean ogres making a mess of the décor.

First up, Nick needs a good dose of angst. How can a guy - a cop who's job it is to set things right way up, no less - have his world turned upside down and be so ok with it all? Answer: he couldn’t. Especially considering he can't/won't tell a) his girlfriend he wants to marry and b) his partner whom he has to trust his very life with. A straight-up, honest guy keeping secrets, telling half-truths and outright lying? That’s so going to wear on your soul! Meanwhile his only confidante, Munroe (the reformed Blutbad aka werewolf), is from the dark side that Nick is supposed to be getting all Terminator on... so, yeah I'd say that would make for a little angst. Unfortunately Grimm's Nick is way too well adjusted, equal opportunity-pro and willing to take advice or help, which honestly, just pegs him as a little short in the smarts department. Not only that, he's, well, kinda perfect, which is a big problem. In stories perfect = yawn-worthy. Nick should be doubting himself and everyone else. He certainly needs to be (dragged down to the level of) "human" and make some mistakes, both at home and in his job. His relationship should be under great strain with the giant secrets he's keeping and Juliette, who obviously has both common sense and brains, should be feeling it all big time. (And she's a veterinarian! How can you not have scenes of both comic disaster and heart breaking tragedy tugging at your sleeve with that combo?) Nick shouldn't be able to escape all that in his work either. Having Grimm abilities would make it naturally tempting to cut corners on the job, especially in shoot-em-up situations, and the repercussions of doing just that should really hit the fan (in the best-worst possible, gotta-tune-in-next-week way). Admit it. Just talking about all the things that could and should go wrong has you more interested in Grimm than ever, right?

Follow Through - Show The Consequences

You know the formula: "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". The same should be true in story. Everything that happens should have a price (preferably heavy on the taxes!) otherwise there are no stakes in a conflict. Unless you rewind time each week like a Brady Bunch sitcom, Portland and everyone in Grimm should be a little changed as a result of whatever happened the week before, especially since it’s literally life and death stuff we’re tuning into. Unless tragedy is possible there is no real risk (and no real reason to watch).  Nick's actions in particular must reap consequences (sometimes literally, with those scythe-wielding visitors) and nothing, and no one, should be the same after coming into contact with his Grimm-ness.

Create A Solid Vernacular For the Show

What’s vernacular in TV terms? It’s when you hear someone say: “That’s such a Rachel thing to say!” (Or Mulder/Trekkie/insert-popular-character-or-show-title-here/etc) Apart from Munroe and his wry comebacks, this show is crying out for some witty repartee, snappy (quotable even!) dialogue and a use of language that’s particular, peculiar even, to Grimm. Good dialogue is really all about character. Snappy dialogue is all about smart characters under pressure, which is something every single person in this show should be. With the outlandish and fantastic aspects of this show, a scene or situation can go from hokey to brilliant, simply by clever use of language that catches the ear of the audience. On paper, the writing isn't bad. There aren't huge clunker-lines for the most part (what the actors do or don't do with them is another issue) and the mythology is sound and original enough to be different. The weekly stories and fairy tale references are generally cohesive and there's a sense of humor that runs throughout. Unfortunately it often feels self-conscious or uncomfortable in the Grimm skin it's in. That's no good for character development or for giving a show a recognizable stamp. I say grab that branding iron in your hot little hand and use it with ferocity that makes people notice. It’s rarely love or hate that kills a relationship (or viewership). It’s the middle-of-the-road, not-too-any-one-thing-in-particular that does it. Proper use of branding irons should remove any possibility of apathy! This show not only rides the wave of current fairy tale popularity but also the still-booming trend of urban fantasy - a genre that uses wry and smart, sassy humor to deal with the weird, to cope with tragedy and things out of the ordinary. The writers and creators of Grimm cut their teeth on this brand of clever so we know they have the skills. While I'm not asking for a repeat of “Buffyisms”, as fantastic as they were, I do wish Grimm would stop dipping its big toe and instead boldly cannonball in to create its own vernacular and brand of story telling.

At the moment, Nick is a little like The Boy Who Set Out To Learn Fear, someone who is barely bothered by anything that crosses his path, but my fear is that he won't discover it (and take real risks) until the viewers have gotten tired of his banal reactions (or poor underutilized Juliette meets a grisly end as people originally predicted). We need to see Nick second-guessing everything, including what the heck a "Grimm" is anyway. He needs to get into trouble, be backed into impossible corners and even more impossible dead-end alleys while figuring his own way out in the nick (heh) of time even as he compromises who he thinks he is. Doing all this against the larger backdrop of dark fairy tales and formidable fairy tale creatures is mythic in the making, if the blend is right. The guy that survives all that amid monsters (human and non) and keeps trying is someone to root for and ultimately someone you want to have your back - especially when you visit Portland...

There's no doubt fairy tales are more than just stories and any book or series that tackles that has a lot it can do. What it comes down to is this: people really want to see the potential in every man, especially the hero, to be a monster and his struggle to rise above it. After all, that's what fairy tales - and being human - are really about. 

It can also great for ratings.

* I don’t mean to imply that retelling a fairy tale is simple. To keep a tale fresh, relevant and surprising while being a retelling is difficult. As I’ve said before, my hat is off to Donna Jo Napoli who retells tales in the most incredible way I’ve ever seen. Kudos also to Cameron Dokey whose retellings in the Simon Pulse “Once Upon A Time” series are fresh and lovely.