Review: A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN, Almeida Theatre
Photo credit: Marc Brenner
Celebrated director Rebecca Frecknall, who has brought awards and acclaim to the Almeida Theatre in recent years with her striking reimagining of classic plays (namely A Streetcar Named Desire and Summer & Smoke), returns to the venue with a new production of A Moon For The Misbegotten.
Part of the Eugene O’Neill theatrical universe, this play is a sequel to O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night and stays with the character of James Tyrone Jr (Michael Shannon), a picture of guilt and grief drowned in alcoholism. The play centres around the will-they-won’t-they relationship between James and Josie Hogan (Ruth Wilson) across the course of a moonlit night.
Frecknall is renowned for the romance and poetry of her productions, and this latest offering is no exception. Although brevity and concision are somewhat outside the wheelhouse of Mr O’Neill, under considered direction, this cast make an unwieldy and rather laboured script sexy, engaging and eminently watchable. Throughout the second act in particular, Frecknall’s direction is meticulous and choreographed, with Shannon and Wilson dancing around one another in a pained waltz of yearning.
Reuniting after their previous successful collaboration on Summer & Smoke, Frecknall’s production is brought to life by Tom Scutt’s astonishing set design. Scutt’s design incorporates a circular rig that extends into the audience, working with Jack Knowles truly radiant lighting design to create the effect of the moon moving through the sky over the course of one agonising night of love, pain and near-misses. This play is truly a gift to a lighting designer, with moonlight and sunrise forming a crucial part of the narrative, and Knowles rises to this challenge and then some with his juggling of warmth and coldness in his spectacular design.
This production wrings poetry and beauty out of a chunky and unconvincing script. The performances are captivating all round, but unfortunately this four-act, three-hour play stretches a thin narrative to breaking point. O’Neill could have done with a strict dramaturg to dissuade him from walloping his audience over the head with metaphors. If you struggle with longer plays, we would suggest drinking every time someone mentions the word ‘moon’ – a game which will have you under your seat by the bows!
Visually breathtaking, emotionally captivating, but lyrically thin.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett
