In its last weeks, thru August 21, 2022
Playwright — Jen Silverman
Director — Roxy Seven
Actors: EMILIE — Pamela W. Allen, AGATHA— Jessica Carroll, MOOR HEN — Ricci Dedola, MASTIFF by Mark Friedrich, MARJORY — Laurel Livezey, HULDEY — Jasmine Norris
These times, wherein life itself seems fragile, Mendocino Theatre Company offers The Moors, a production that displays, in dark comedic fashion, the internal dialogue and the feelings that come with the current-day experience, pandemic isolation, end-of-the-world angst. The show’s program sets the time in the 1840-ish — it is more ISH than not. The setting is in England with a Question Mark — in today’s world, boundaries of land are hard to see and harder to hold, those of the psyche no less.
The Moors is a brooding, existential, poetic, theatre of the absurd, reminiscent of Camus’ and Sartre’s existentialism, Brecht’s alienation theatre, Ionesco’s theatre of the absurd. The Bronte sisters, the writings, art, the lineage of their short-lived windswept existence is the inspiration for The Moors. The fog of the “bleak moors” rolls in, strangely similar to the climes of our Mendocino coast. Though the artistic natures of its inhabitants are more dramatically stated in the play, a resonance is sensed. This production of the Moors offers a bold, even shocking, sometimes sexy, certainly entertaining array of psyches, a cabaret of the soul with no holds barred.
From the moment we enter the theatre proper, we are greeted by what appears to be a parlor, decorated in lush and seductive rococo fashion, somewhat opposite to, yet inclusive of, the darkness of the moors. In this way, the stage itself invites the audience, almost unbeknownst, to the opposing themes of seductive beauty and oppressive angst.
The audience meets most of the characters within a short time of opening. The lady of the manor Agatha, is played with cool and detached precision by Jessica Carroll. As you might guess, there is more beneath the all-spit-and-polish surface of Agatha; her modus operandi, from the get-go, is far from subtle.
Played by the inimitable Mark Friedrich, Mastiff, man’s best friend, the dog, is seen sitting sadly with his head lowered. Occasionally he lifts his head to look around and, each time, Agatha, commands, Down!, a command that resonates throughout everything in the Moors and beyond. Mark as Mastiff offers a beautiful and touching poetic monologue that sets the overall tone of the play.
Agatha’s young sister, Huldey, played by the young Jasmine Norris, is performed to sweet and innocent perfection; until, it is no longer sweet and innocent. Maybe nothing is. And that, too, has a head-banging perfection uniquely its own. Well done, Jasmine.
The maid, Marjory (she of another name), is played to head-bowing submissiveness by Laurel Livezey. Laurel’s performance as the maid carries a chilly and subdued resistance. Ultimately donning a London Lace bib, Marjory displays the certain danger that lies behind silenced desire; nay! Rather she carries a sinister ambition to tumble what is up, and turn right what is down.
Into the parlor comes Emilie, played with all of the nuance and finesse we are used to seeing from Pamela W. Allen who has graced the MTC stage with her fine acting skill time and again. Emilie arrives at the manor, having responded to letters from the Master, who the audience never sees but who lives on, on many levels, in our mind’s eye. He lives for sure, in Emilie’s heart, a result of romantic words said in the letters, words the audience can only imagine. Emilie has kind-of fallen for him. Desire for the male letter writer morphs into a surprising gender issue. The shift, like so many in The Moors, happens quickly, suggesting that romance like other emotions, lives more in the projection of the psyche’s desire than in something substantive.
The issue of the personal and the social, the secret and the shown, melds into every nuanced word and action in The Moors. As you might imagine, things change on this stage in a flash and a fog-ish fumble. Some fall right out of the sky,
It is so with the namesake of the play, the MOOR HEN, played so perfectly by one of MTC’s most active and comedic actors, Ricci Dedola. She is the Be Here Now aspect of living. When Mastiff and Moor Hen meet, it is, for the dog, love at first flight. The moor hen, however, is a bit shy, feeling she is not a match for his size nor his nature, but she is persuaded to enter into a friendship with the dog. This relationship has much of marriage to it. She offers a mindful presence. He offers eternal and idealistic devotion. Nature weighs in, as something of fight or flight plays in the mist. It is interesting that the dog and bird represent the most human emotions, while the humans display the most beastly.
Being seen and not being seen is a theme in the play. Intimacy and desire are never far afield, though sometimes hidden in moorish mist. Personal power politics, gender issues, love eternal, love interrupted, the loneliness of separation; all the mysteries of attraction, beauty, fear and danger are represented; and, in the final analysis, up for the grab of interpretation. Take a moment to enter The Moors. Enjoy this alluring one act play of comedic Mystery.
All the ways of seeing are enhanced by the amazing skills of costume design by Anakin Melamed, the music and sound design by Scott Menzies, scenic and lighting design by Jeff Rowlings, Prop Master is Allison Tuomala, Technical Director and Master Electrician is Dale Cohn . Special applause for Director Roxy Seven and stage manager Sidney Droz
Please note that in order to support indoor seating safety, all must show proof of Covid vaccination. Masks must be worn throughout the entire performance.
For tickets and info: (707) 937-4477 www.mendocinotheatre.org
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