BIG CRANBERRY
Jack Studio Theatre
★★★★
“The quick cross-cuts and quicker dialogue give the play the propulsive quality of a thriller”
Big Cranberry, written and directed by Joe Edgar, is a play with ambitions even larger than its eponymous fruit. In its pithy runtime of seventy-five minutes it attempts to analyse the macro-economic systems responsible for ecological collapse, show their impact on the communities affected, examine the role media reporting plays, stage a debate on how best to make tangible change in a corrupted world – and do all this with enough tart wit and emotional punch to keep an audience gripped to their seats. To its great credit it largely succeeds.
It does so in part through its clever narrative framework. The play takes place at an after-hours cutting-room floor session in the Boston Globe, where investigative journalist Marianne – played magnetically by Molly Hanley – is having her piece of reportage on the ills of the Massachusetts cranberry industry stress-tested by her colleagues. The amount of information we receive is at first a little dizzying, but the snappy dialogue and dynamic staging, not to mention the brilliant chemistry on stage, make this nutritious but slightly bitter little morsel easier to swallow. The journalists read her article like a play, acting out the parts of Marianne’s interviewees, and soon we are slipping seamlessly between the office in Boston and her journey through rural Massachusetts. In the most striking of these transitions, the newsroom desks are instantaneously metamorphosed into a car, whisking Marianne away through the country night as she talks to her therapist – with no little dry wit. The quick cross-cuts and quicker dialogue give the play the propulsive quality of a thriller.
While the investigative element of the story is largely deftly handled, its emotional heart lies with Marianne, whose faith in resistance to the dominant systems of destructive power is sorely tested. On paper her character, like many of the cast, can be boiled down to a trope: the neurotic high-achiever with a pushy mother whose insatiable demands exact Sisyphean efforts in search of approval. But on the stage she inhabits the role entirely, and several scenes towards the end, one with rewilder Jeremy – whose character is also granted emotional depth by Xavier Starr – and another with her boss Gloria, are genuinely affecting. The use of stock characters, as well as the occasional clunky plot device, seem to me necessary anchors for a whirlwind of a play, and there are enough surprises in there to keep them fresh.
Ultimately, this is a slick, well-written, well-directed play with strong performances from all four cast members and good staging; Gabriel Finn’s lighting is subtle but effective. It won’t tear down the edifice of extractivism – what will? – but it may offer some desperately needed catharsis and hope for those disheartened by the lack of progress in combating the climate crisis – and its humour and dramatic flair are more than just a garnish.
BIG CRANBERRY
Jack Studio Theatre
Reviewed on 20th November 2025
by Peter Jacobs
Photography by Sosij Productions
Previously reviewed at this venue:
VERA; OR, THE NIHILISTS | ★★★ | September 2025
HAVISHAM | ★★★ | March 2025
IN THE SHADOW OF HER MAJESTY | ★★★★★ | November 2024
CAN’T WAIT TO LEAVE | ★★★½ | November 2024
MARCELLA’S MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT | ★★ | September 2024
