Review: Nine Moons, Lion and Unicorn Theatre
Grimfest
A tale of growing up, with a backdrop of the supernatural. It’s fun, it’s different and it’s not afraid to gross you out a little. summary
Rating
Good
All the clues are there: it’s part of GrimFest (although it’s moved to Lion and Unicorn Theatre now); there’s lots, and I do mean LOTS, of talk of body hair growing everywhere; there is an obsession with the full moon; there’s blood and a severe craving for meat. Surely they can only be…? Except what’s great about Nilgun Yusuf‘s Nine Moons is it never quite goes exactly where you’re expecting.
Rather than a supernatural tale with a side story of teen girls coming of age this is instead a coming of age story with a side portion of the supernatural. It’s a writing decision that greatly benefits the play, giving it a superb edge as we cheer on the three teenagers and watch as they battle with life.
Much like The Blair Bitch Project, which also played as part of GrimFest, Nine Moons offers a story of female friendship wrapped up in a teasing paranormal tale, and isn’t afraid to talk about periods – something that can only be healthy, bringing such conversations to the fore. Sage and Danni’s friendship is disrupted by new arrival Loukia. The pair are initially wary of the new, slightly strange, girl, Sage especially shocked at how casual she is about her hairy legs! But as Sage and Loukia bond so Danni feels left behind, unable to accept the intrusion into their friendship, especially as things are clearly not so great at home for her. And whilst all this is going on, so Sage begins to notice some strange changes going on personally – all that hair for one!
Where Nine Moons doesn’t work so well is in its pacing. Once the central concept is laid out, rather than move quickly on it labours the same point. There is absolutely space to address societal pressures on teen girls to look a certain way, but it’s just overdone. It feels like the first half of the play is spent discussing the horrors of body hair, leaving not enough time for everything else and the second half then feels too rushed. Or at least until the closing scene which suddenly drags it all out a bit too much. Worse still, actors doing karaoke to demonstrate their togetherness should never go on for so long. The lights should have gone down much sooner to give us a neater end.
Selma Alkaff as Sage gives a wonderful performance that holds the trio together. Her transformation is nicely handled as she does her best to balance friendships, and also with her changing body. And as much as the whole hair discussion may go on for too long there’s no doubting that her reaction as she describes hair in the swimming pool is a brilliant couple of minutes. Alongside her Laryssa Ivy Pereiro and Ellie Uragallo embody the two different sides that Sage is trying to deal with; the wild and carefree Loukia and the body conscious Danni. There’s also a nice turn from Pereiro as the bearded lady who appears in Sage’s drug induced dreams.
Nine Moons does a wonderful job of addressing the whole issue of body positivity and pressures on teens to look a certain way, something that is a vital conversation, especially for teen girls. And it does it in a fun and unusual way. This is very much a play that you could easily imagine being taken into schools (less the swearing obviously). It might not get everything quite right, but the core is strong enough to suggest it wouldn’t take massive changes to tidy up those issues. It’s another great contribution towards this year’s GrimFest.
Written by: Nilgun Yusuf
Directed by: Renee Yeong
Sound design by: Vanessa Garber
Technician: Xinxi Du
Dramaturgy and casting by: Danae Cambrook
Stage managed by: Atlanta Sonson-Chapman
Nine Moons plays at Lion and Unicorn until 31st October. Further information and tickets are availble here.