77. Moonlight - Donmar Warehouse

I have so far not spoken about Moonlight in any of the polite company I normally inhabit, because I sort of... quite liked it. Given that the consensus is that this was thoroughly rubbish, I’d start to doubt my own critical judgement, except that I generally seem to be a bit out of sync with everyone at the moment. Perhaps it was just that by the time I saw Moonlight, my expectations had hit rock bottom and the only way was up, but I genuinely found I was enjoying it. Though that isn’t the same as loving it, by any means.


I enjoyed elements of both the play and the production greatly but it was too scattered and obscure in the end to really work for me. A supreme example of the whole not adding up to the sum of its parts. I’m not sure, even after considering it for a few weeks, that I could really explain what it was about and, because of that, any satisfaction I’d gained during watching it dissipated at the end. I needed some sense of closure or understanding and this didn’t provide it.

However, I’m glad I saw it. As obscure as Pinter’s language can be, it has a beautiful lulling quality and was here expertly performed. David Bradley, in particular is something of a god amongst actors in my eyes and was here simply stunning. I also greatly enjoyed the interaction of the two brothers, Jake and Fred, played by Daniel Mays and Liam Garrigan – if only because it reminded me distinctly of my own family. We also communicate frequently in elaborate fantasy worlds (we once spent over an hour discussing how my brother was a Russian spy planted in our mother’s womb – much to his girlfriend’s confusion). Here the fantasy worlds they created were both obviously a crutch and simultaneously a limitation for them. I loved it, I just wished it had fallen in as part of a more structured and satisfying story.

Interesting and engaging if not, ultimately, enlightening.