Reviewed by Tony Annicone
Providence College’s Theatre Department’s closing show of their season at Angell’s Blackfriars Theatre is “The Moors” by Jen Silverman. This dark comedy is a satire and is set in an eerie manor in a bleak, windswept landscape; shadowy corners and surreptitious staircases; secrets, mysteries and melodramatic revelations abound. This is the gothic novel, the world of “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights” but in this show the characters are millennials and it takes a feminist spin on things. Two spinster sisters and a philosophy spouting dog live out their lives on the bleak English moors and dream of love and power. They are waited on by two maids played by the same actress. The arrival of a hapless governess and a talkative moor-hen set all three on a strange and dangerous path. It is about craziness and emotionality and also about unconventional love. Director Mary Farrell casts these roles wonderfully, eliciting strong performances from her six member cast. It also marks her last show she’s directed as a professor at PC.
The set design is by Joshua Christoffersen while the costumes are by David Costa Cabral with the most elaborate ones for Huldey, the dog and the bird. The fog rolling up on the moors is very well done in the outdoor scenes. There are many twists and turns in this script that can’t be explained without giving away the secrets the script holds. The strong performers deliver the goods in this show. Mireya Lopez plays the steely, cold Agatha, the bossy older sister. Her true feelings and motives become apparent as the show progresses where she softens her persona to have her way. Brittany Price is energetic and effervescent as Huldey, who likes writing in her diary. Huldey is the younger more gentle sister until her “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” type melt down where she displays her strong voice in a song that stuns the audience. Gabriella Sanchez is brilliant as Emilie, the governess arriving to tutor their brother’s child. She wins many laughs when she is confused by the living room, bedroom settings and by the confusion about who the maid is that she’s speaking to. Her confusion gives way to determination to win a place in the family no matter the cost. She seemingly wins the day or does she?
Grace Dolan plays the look alike maids, Marjory, the scullery maid and Mallory, the parlor maid. She has some intriguing dialogue with Emilie as well as some taunting dialogue with Huldey when she reads her diary aloud to her. The two animals in this play are able to speak to each other. Thomas Edwards plays the Mastiff who is constantly ignored by the sisters because he was their father’s pet not theirs. Since he is male, they look down on him. So the Mastiff tries to find love and companionship with a wounded moor-hen. They have many discussions together. Deidre Lahiff rounds out the cast as the moor-hen. She doesn’t understand what the dog wants at first and then he protects her from a soaking rain, winning her confidence. So for a dark contemporary comedy that harkens back to the Bronte’s novels with some clever twists, be sure to catch “The Moors” by Jen Silverman. The play shows how to overcome your weaknesses, to try to understand each other and form relationships with some surprising ones along the way.
THE MOORS (13 to 22 April)
Providence College, Blackfriars Theatre, Eaton Street, Providence, RI
1(401)865-2218 or www.providence.edu/theatre
