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Performance 6/21/25 – Portland Stage Studio

Sometimes life is just too ludicrous, too painful, too real, that the only way you can relate the truth is to just get a little more absurd than real life, and see how it goes. It goes well in The Kidnapping of Andrew Wakefield.

A piecemeal series of scenes and monologues that stitched together creates an informative, hilarious, and frankly, oddly moving piece of theatre. With a deep nod to the Princess Bride, that becomes delightfully deeper as the show progresses, the show is an informative pastiche based on a now debunked study by a British physician that led to the mythology around autism and the MMR booster. As it progresses, the stem of the narrative becomes clear – a group of angry public school workers decide that the best way to combat a measles outbreak is to go right to the source, and kidnap the asshole that basically invented the lie that vaccines cause autism. As it plays out, the story wanders through a series of increasingly absurd situations, pop culture references, and monologues. It would do the show a dishonor to relate them here. But you will learn a lot about Andrew Wakefield, who turns out to be a real piece of work, and his ‘study’ that found autism was caused by vaccinations. And you will finally learn the answer to the question we all wanted to know when we sat down in that theatre, which is, of course, “how DID that bear get in RFK Jr’s car?”. The cast is a stable of veteran talent from the local theatre community, so the performances are all excellent, and deeply impassioned. And I’d be lying if the absurdly moving finale didn’t bring a tear to my eye. It’s weird, informative, delightful, and confidently absurd. Everything you want in a fringe show.

Review Submitted on 6/22/25 by Allen Baldwin, PF25 Independent Review Team

Performance 6/22/25 – Portland Stage Studio

A comedic fable of revenge, the cast has fun telling this story of part Princess Bride, part SNL, part Michael Moore political entertainment. A balm for anyone who thinks headlines can’t get any worse, and a comeuppance to a man who got caught rigging the system for his advantage. Wakefield may have had his license revoked but he is alive and well in the U.S. This fable of revenge becomes a cautionary reality after you stop chuckling.

Review Submitted on 6/23/25 by Linda, PF25 Independent Review Team

“Maybe by sharing a laugh we can start a meaningful conversation” is an ethos that threads through Hal Cohen’s “The Kidnapping of Andrew Wakefield, an Interrupted Fairytale”

The piece doesn’t shy away from calling folks out, and Andrew Wakefield—a central figure in the anti-vaccine movement—takes particular heat, with the show leaving no doubt about Hal’s position: Wakefield’s legacy is devastatingly harmful. In our current political moment, Hal’s stance was refreshingly blunt. The playwright notes, handed out as a program on entry, were a helpful framing of the show, and, frankly, a genuinely good read. They offered helpful context that enriched the entire evening.

The show is tied together by a recurring Princess Bride reference, which cleverly serves as both a nostalgic anchor and a structural throughline for the series of vignettes. The pacing did lag a bit at times with informational overload, though Hal’s self-awareness of this definitely kept even the more info-heavy moments enjoyable. There was also a lovely surprise scene that I won’t spoil but that was definitely cathartic in this political climate.

“The Kidnapping of Andrew Wakefield, an Interrupted Fairytale”  invites the audience to laugh, to learn, to think, and hopefully to walk out of the theater ready to engage further in the conversation Hal is encouraging!

Review Submitted on 6/24/25 by Lauren Stockless, PF25 Independent Review Team