The Moors (Podcast by The Theatre Company) - A review

The Theatre Company presents

The Moors  by Jen Silverman
Available for Streaming October 9 - 24, 2020

Directed by Brandon Woolley

Stage Manager - Nicole Galdwin

Sound Design - Adam Smith

Sound Engineer/Mixer - Justin Phelps

Original Music Direction - Merideth Kaye Clark

Cast: Sasha Neufeld (Emilie), Dana Millican+ (Agatha), Kelly Godell (A Moor Hen), Paul Glazier+ (A Mastiff), Jen Rowe+ (Huldey), and Lorraine Bahr (Marjory).

We are grateful to The Theatre Company for providing us with the opportunity of listening to the podcast version of their production of The Moors by Jen Silverman.

We have published many reviews of Jen Silverman's The Moors and always we have been rather intrigued by this humorous take on the times, if not the actual lives, of the Brontë family. This podcast is the perfect opportunity to finally finding out what it is all about. Not that we are grateful for a pandemic, but it is true that it has helped take many cultural events out of their actual venue and made them available all around the world.

We can't obviously compare to the actual stage production, but it should be said that the podcast works tremendously well and is easy to follow and picture as you listen. The stage directions are hilarious anyway.

So we have a governess, Emilie, arrive at a Gothic mansion to take up a new post after having exchanged letters with the master of the house, Branwell, with whom she's fallen in love. But when she gets there, Branwell and the child she's supposed to teach are nowhere to be found. Instead, she's forced to spend her time with a couple of sisters: Agatha, bossy and mysterious, and Huldey, depressed and dreaming of becoming a famous writer. There's also a servant who is two servants in one.

The mastiff of the house also has a side story involving philosophical/psychological conversations with a moorhen. This side story, while greatly done, is what may lose a bit in the podcast, as seeing two people disguised as a mastiff and a moorhen discussing depression and toxic relationships on stage must be quite a sight.

Enthusiasts of the 19th century will be laughing a lot, particularly at the beginning of the story. Emilie's initial confusion (particularly with the decoration of the house and with the servant) is hilarious. The beginning reminded us a little of Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm.

Perhaps the second half of the governess's story is not what we had expected and would seem to flop a little, not so the mastiff/moorhen story, but overall the play makes for a highly enjoyable hour and a half. It's 2020 and we should all be using every available opportunity for a good laugh, so don't let this pass.