MOONSHED : till 28 June

MOONSHED
by Aisha Khan

Royal Exchange Studio To 28 June 2003
Runs 1hr 5min No interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 28 June

Adequate piece in a delightful environment, but never entering deep into childhood experience.
Aisha Khan's new play for 7-12s is set in Britain 2015. There are hints (possibly not developed enough for full light to be shed on them without reading the programme) about changes in society - and, specifically, schools. The term Academy has become the universal euphemism for schools, which stream their students rigorously by ability.

As for the moon, that's disappeared, though the whole heavenly element of the story is moonshine. It's a decent-enough piece, helped by some solid acting and energetic direction. But Khan's fitting in themes and ideas more than she's letting her script digest them.

Chief delight is the environment designer Lizzie Clachan creates out of the Exchange's flexible studio space. Entry's via a shed door, and everyone sits on the floor, or politely-placed benches and chairs for adults in this shed where friends Anu and Shaun meet and argue over their bit of space rock which turns out to loom large with lunar significance.

They're aware of separation next term in the new Academy, though this theme's not developed much. Tensions arise, too, between Anu and his grandad. There's getting on for enough here without the sci-fi, involving a race to save and restore the moon. The problem with this plot element is that it lacks solidity.

Hannah McBride's Vela, crashing in her spaceboat through the shed wall, provides an energetic pulse to the central part of the action. She's clearly on the side of good. But her moon-stealing enemy is unseen and never made a real presence or threat. And, while Anu's the only human to notice the spaceboat-ripped shed wall, the implications of this are not pursued.

There are other plot turns Shaun nicking the important lunar rock, for one that never take us far and which tend to be resolved without much happening.

At least the celestial story allows Clachan to create delightful space-scapes: stars on the ceiling, a planetary system through the window and, eventually, the friendly moon to round off the action. But Moonshed might have travelled further by focusing its sights more clearly on its core ideas.

Anu: Ronny Jhutti
Shaun: Lewis Hellewell
Grandad: Aftab Sachak
Vela: Hannah McBride

Director: Sarah Frankcom
Designer: Lizzie Clachan
Lighting: Richard Owen
Sound: Carolyn Downing

2003-07-01 21:43:57