Many Moons by Alice Birch was an apt choice for my weekly theatre outing, given that I am currently preparing the Juniper Jessops cringeworthy ‘I am looking for love’ monologue for an upcoming drama school audition at ArtsEd and Mountview next month. Rebecca Crow’s delightful and energetic Juniper was exactly personified in the brash northern lulls that I envisaged, and almost like a perfect pitch for a home made online dating video clip. South London Theatre’s temporary home at Stanley Halls was a striking setting for such an intimate piece where one felt at home to share some overtly private and frank discussions on such emotionally raw topics such as sex, and truthfulness which was laid out bare for all to see. Many Moons is a parody of truth and deception in that Birch’s reference to social media is a tool in demystifying people’s lives to revealing one’s bare existence.
From the outset, the characters were all present on stage and the audience almost felt rude to walk in and interrupt them given their apparent vulnerability and perhaps knowing there is a story to come behind the distracted and dejected faces of both young and old telling their story on love. What is stark obvious in Birch’s writing is that no matter how old or young we are, we still continually face the same trials and tribulations of finding love, especially in such a vaste and lonely city like London. Four people who initially appear disconnected from one another all share the same discontentment, albeit in different time and journey phases yet eventually lead their lives in parallel abundancy. The four characters were initially presented to us like an ordinary everyman walking the streets of London with their average life story of perhaps being in a relationship, married with a family or divorced and still looking for love. Many Moons captures an adequate snapshot of a typical cross section of a floundering society of all shapes and sizes.
The body language of Ollie (Edward Cherrie) who had his head in his hands conveyed that of a frustrated and unfulfilled twenty something year old not sure what love even means. Meg (Catherine Ellis Raku-Evans) appeared confident and seemed to have the perfect middle class domestic home life on the surface, but what was hidden beneath was a tale of deception and superficiality in a far from perfect marriage. The stage setting was coerced purposefully to reflect and invite us into their individual plight as an open forum like a therapy session. Robert (Barry Heselden) appeared like the perfect gent besotted with his beloved June, yet again was the culprit of devastation within the community hiding ghastly secrets yet still able to carry the propensity of loving another human being. Juniper (Rebecca Crow) was the excitable and naïve breathe of fresh air that made us all semi convinced that finding true love may not be such an impossibility after all. What was so refreshing about the play itself is that everyone in the audience can relate to a character. I may connect closer to Juniper in age, but looming to my 30th birthday feel a tad more mature and cynical in that marriage and babies seems ever further removed. I also possess the bashfulness of Ollie who is a kindred soul, and is looking for love in all the wrong places.
This SL production was abound with poignant and enrapturing tender moments, but at certain points lost its pacing with repetitive methods of dialogue delivery and not enough variation especially at the beginning. However, this may seem an overly harsh critique as monologues are incredibly challenging, and effectively one could say it was a series of individuals performing to their audience as their was no interrelation between the actors. Crow suddenly woke us up again at key moments with her loud and over the top demeanour that was both irritating and endearing simultaneously. What really brought the production to life was the introduction of movement which could have perhaps been more gradually introduced given the gravitas of long monologue speeches that didn’t seem to have differing flavours to them each time they rotated.
The lighting flashes on the repetitive dialogue during the paedophile shaming scene was highly effective as was the finale blackout which was quite surprising given the lightness of the final line ‘I love you too’. I half expected a more light and open conclusion and perhaps an abridgement from the written play here, as there was certainly room for experimentation. The lighting of the multi-coloured bulbs was better than stronger stage lighting shadowed on the actor in turn and was more of an unconventional choice. A lot of the production’s meaning was understated and we all perhaps took away different understandings as it was interesting to hear tail ends of conversations as I left the performance hall. I enjoyed the devised staging how the actors didn’t physically connect, but managed to convey an interconnection with one another’s parallel lives without any direct communication or contact. This was particularly well polished when Juniper and Ollie nearly met but didn’t due to circumstances, and also Juniper trying to help a perfect stranger in Meg on Stoke Newington high street. The actors very much made these characters their own in a simplistic and naturalistic fashion. Crow delightfully portrayed Juniper’s dramatic expressions and reactions without overplaying the loudness and naivety. Overall, the short interludes of variety in accents, lighting and movement could have been introduced a tad earlier to breathe abit more life into the first half of the production.
Next week Thursday 2 June: The radicalisation of Bradley Manning by Southside Players, Balham
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