Moonset @ Tron Theatre, Glasgow
Citizens Theatre Company's first production of 2023, Moonset is a hard-hitting story about grief, friendship, and growing up
Hell hath no fury like a teen girl scorned. Moonset from the Citizens Theatre Company taps into the rage and delight of girls on the precipice of womanhood and the unique, paradoxical feelings of possibility and powerlessness that the time encapsulates. The four school-uniform clad protagonists of Joanna Bowman’s production summon parallels as comical as Derry Girls and as dark as The Crucible in this fast-paced performance about the formation of a midnight witchcraft coven.
Maryam Hamidi’s script contemplates shifting social dynamics and the foundations of friendship. It offers a diverse, yet universal, depiction of the sheer messiness of growing up. When the pressures of school exams, family expectations, and even the health of a parent leave these four would-be witches feeling helpless, the draw of the supernatural is hard to resist. 15-year-old Roxy (Layla Kirk), desperate for the ability to stop her mother Shideh (Zahra Browne) from dying of cancer, enlists the help of her new friends Joanne (Hannah Visocchi), Gina (Leah Byrne) and Bushra (Cindy Awor). The girls make an unlikely foursome, yet each carries their own set of dark secrets. They embark on an exploration of witchcraft in all its many façades – from self-love TikTok influencers to historic Salem hangings.
While Moonset toys with the spiritual, the play is ultimately grounded in the rational. The play weaves together the ancient notions of fertility, menstrual cycles and magic but fundamentally reaffirms the impossibility of controlling life’s upheavals. The tragic, or even just mundane, elements of daily life cannot be averted. Jen McGinley’s set design helps depict this; spooky spell chants and sacrificial fires take place inside a luminous moon-shaped sphere, but the surrounding abandoned fridges and condom-strewn scrap land erase any notion of otherworldly fantasy.
The fast-paced play is powered by a dynamic cast who accomplish the tricky balancing act of sharp comedic timing while navigating deeply upsetting subject matter.
Moonset, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until 11 Feb; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 16-18 Feb