★★

“We don’t care enough about these (what I would dare call) ‘characters’ to be moved by their desperation and loneliness”

Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick. The audience settles as the lights dim. Two figures enter a darkened auditorium. The lights do not go up. For quite a while. A distorted voice resounds in the void: “Are we good?”

Thus begins ‘Moot Moot’. With identical buzzcuts and grey suits, Rosana Cade and Ivor MacAskill (also the creators of this piece) are Barry and Barry, hapless hosts of a call-in talk show complete with hyperbolic goofy sound effects and spinning office chairs. Despite it being “all about you and you-ou-our opinions”, no one is calling in. In this absence, what are Barry and Barry to do?

The answer is: not a lot. Or at least, nothing interesting. Wearing headphones and microphones electronically distorting their voices, Cade and MacAskill use the repetition of banal phrases and musical interludes to desperately cry out for opinions, any opinions. It’s all a surreal spectacle: at times funny, at times worryingly hollow. Is the point that we are Barrys in our own way, seeking other people and their thoughts to fill a void in our own lives? Are we supposed to be bored? Is it this boredom with what we are witnessing that is meant to jolt us into action? Who knows.

Despite there being a fair number of the audience gamely laughing along, the piece reaches towards absurdist comedy but never really gets there. Laughter, in the end, comes at the expense of what’s on show. It tiptoes into “is this really happening?” territory, so much so the audience members’ reactions become more interesting than the Barrys messing around on stage. We don’t care enough about these (what I would dare call) ‘characters’ to be moved by their desperation and loneliness, and leaving the space becomes a relief in a number of ways.

Azusa Ono’s lighting design is by far the most visually arresting aspect of this show, with graceful fades, subtle colours and clever spatial structures created by light. The Yard Theatre, on a similarly positive note, is an open and versatile space obviously not afraid of taking risks and programming work that challenges as well as entertains. At the end of the day though, Barry and Barry’s headphones take on a neat symbolic value: they hear each other, but not us. Does this extend to Cade and MacAskill? Have they found here a comfortable echo chamber for themselves? These two artists could do a lot more to dispel notions that inaccessible ‘art’ can be found in disused warehouses in East London and could strive next time to say something that really matters. Is this good? No.

Reviewed by Joseph Prestwich

Photography by Jemima Yong

Honour

Park Theatre

Reviewed – 30th October 2018

★★★

“doesn’t use the opportunity of a revival to explore deeper the rage and disappointment bubbling under the script’s surface”

‘Honour’ is a topical and gripping four-hander that paints an honest portrait of middle-class life collapsing in on itself. Witty and erudite, Joanna Murray-Smith’s script, here revived after a successful National Theatre production in 2003, retains its relevance and is even enhanced playing now in a society were gender politics and the nature of relationships have moved firmly into the spotlight.

Henry Goodman plays George, an affable, “pretentiously casual” writer and intellectual being interviewed for a volume on ‘great minds’ by the ambitious and direct Claudia (Katie Brayben). Her presence in George’s life aggressively rocks the comfortable middle-class boat he and his writer wife Honour (Imogen Stubbs) have been cruising in for the last thirty-two years, and George’s decision to leave forces Honour, with the help of their daughter Sophie (Natalie Simpson), to re-evaluate what her life has become, and what it could have been.

Although familiar territory, Murray-Smith’s play asks some useful questions about resentment, guilt, passion, and above all love. How much should a person sacrifice for another? How much of our own lives do we give up out of a sense of duty to someone else’s? It pits careerism against relationships, a conflict particularly relevant in millennial circles and here a gentle reminder that it’s never too late for change.

The ensemble are convincing in their relationships and expertly play the insecurities, thought changes and verbal stop/starts that pepper the script. Stubbs and Goodman are riveting to watch and handle the emotional weight of their characters’ choices well. Sudden blackouts keep the audience on their toes, and Liz Cooke’s set, with its dilapidated blue wave looming over the course of events, foreshadows the story nicely but fails to ask any real questions of the script. The pastel blues of banal middle-class life are shocked into action by the blacks and reds of Claudia’s costume. Paul Robinson’s direction keeps things pacey and balanced, but again, doesn’t use the opportunity of a revival to explore deeper the rage and disappointment bubbling under the script’s surface.

Luckily, this is a gripping study of marriage with instantly relatable characters played by talented actors. It’s certainly a middle-class play about middle-class problems, but by playing it safe, misses out on directly challenging its seemingly middle-class audience itself. How much resentment, how much regret, do you carry around under the visage of well-to-do urban existence?

Tag Archives: Joseph Prestwich

Moot Moot – 2 Stars

The Yard Theatre

Reviewed – 31st October 2018

★★

“We don’t care enough about these (what I would dare call) ‘characters’ to be moved by their desperation and loneliness”

Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick. The audience settles as the lights dim. Two figures enter a darkened auditorium. The lights do not go up. For quite a while. A distorted voice resounds in the void: “Are we good?”

Reviewed by Joseph Prestwich

Photography by Jemima Yong

Moot Moot

The Yard Theatre until 10th November

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Buggy Baby | ★★★★ | March 2018

Three Sisters by RashDash after Chekhov | ★★★★ | May 2018

A New and Better You | ★★★★ | June 2018

The Act | ★★★½ | July 2018

A Kettle of Fish | ★★★ | September 2018

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

Honour – 3 Stars

Park Theatre

Reviewed – 30th October 2018

★★★

“doesn’t use the opportunity of a revival to explore deeper the rage and disappointment bubbling under the script’s surface”

Reviewed by Joseph Prestwich

Photography by Alex Brenner

Honour

Park Theatre until 24th November

Previously reviewed at this venue:

There or Here | ★★★½ | January 2018

A Princess Undone | ★★★ | February 2018

Passage to India | ★★★ | February 2018

Vincent River | ★★★★ | March 2018

Pressure | ★★★★ | April 2018

Building the Wall | ★★★★ | May 2018

End of the Pier | ★★★★ | July 2018

The Rise & Fall of Little Voice | ★★★★ | August 2018

Distance | ★★★★ | September 2018

The Other Place | ★★★ | September 2018

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com