Review: Are You There, Moriarty?, Playhouse East

After a round of golf, a group sits down for an evening of wine and cheese pairings at their friend Georgey’s (Daniel Cuckow) new bar. Like a cross between Mischief Theatre, Noël Coward and a Jacobean revenge play, the evening descends into chaos.

Despite Are You There, Moriarty only being a 90-minute piece, the relationships between the characters are expertly established from the get-go. The troubled marriage of Katie (Samantha Begeman) and Jonathan (Lou Bristow-Bell), power imbalances between the friends, the bordering-on-incestuous banter of Jonathan and Lily (Abigaill Sinclair); all are cleverly constructed and well executed.

Alex Ansdell is the hapless Chris, a new employee of Jonathan’s who is remarkably out of his depth at the friends’ gathering. Wearing a full dinner suit while his companions lounge in relaxed sportswear, he stumbles his way through conversations and tries to avoid being the easy butt of the joke.

There’s no one standout in the cast – they’re an impressive ensemble, each bringing something to the (increasingly cheese-covered) table. Physical comedy and fight scenes are also remarkably well-done, especially in the intimate space of Playhouse East. Everything happens right in front of the audience’s noses, so any faults would be blindingly obvious. There are none.

With direction from Matty Rudd,attention to detail is exceptional. The cast are always active, characters having conversations with one another on the sidelines or having their own moments while the ‘main’ action takes place. It never feels as though there is black space, elements of the story weaving together seamlessly into a single picture.

Samantha Begeman’s script, too, is excellent. Criticisms of the rich are very à la mode so it can be hard for them to stand out, but some of the moments here are perfectly on the mark. Georgey laments whether his five gap years were really all that worth it – even though he now has an artisan wine and cheese cellar in Clapham. At another particularly tense moment, Katie tightly asks her husband whether she may use his phone to look up the ingredients of Waitrose No.1 organic kombucha.

With the increasingly fraught atmosphere and the growing irritation of the group, repetition of certain lines just gets funnier. After introducing each wine, Georgey takes care to tell Maeva (Nina-Lou Bricard) its country of origin. “French, Maeve.” “Spanish, Maeve.” “English, Maeve.” He also continually reminds guests of the night’s pièce de resistance: his homemade cheese, “22 months in the making”.

The piece runs a little long, with the ending slightly tapering off, but there’s no obvious place for cuts to be made in the main body of the script; every inch is funny.

Are You There, Moriarty is another complex, accomplished and polished piece from Novem Ensemble. Long may their collaborations continue.

Written by Samatha Begeman
Directed by Matty Rudd
Produced by Alfie Thompson Brown
Pianist: Henry Roberts

Are You There, Moriarty has concluded its run at Playhouse East.