Hannah Parke & Nicholas Scheppard. Photo by Johanna Austin
Soundboard was introduced to theater by their cousin Soundtrack (favorite credits include Fantasia), they enjoy bouncing ideas, bouncing ping pong balls and “Bounce” the Gwyneth Paltrow movie.
Bo is a feminist who would like to remind you that anger is a legitimate response, and that its presence does not render her points invalid.
Soundboard
So, what
was in your pockets when you went to see Moth?
Bo
I went to Moth with a pre-existing fondness for Azuka and the plays they choose to produce. I was curious about the work of a director I hadn’t seen before and glad to support Azuka’s Young Professionals series, which I think is a marvelous and much-needed program in Philadelphia.
Soundboard
What did you think of the design?
Bo
Overall I thought the design of the show was excellent. Alyssandra Docherty’s lights worked well for me, creating tone without resorting to dimness, and aiding in the delineation of time and locale in a piece set within the realm of memory.
The lights worked in tandem with the sound design, as well. Damien Figueras created a sound landscape that also served to carve out specific moments of emotion and violence.
And I would say I flat out loved Apollo Mark Weaver’s set, too. The giant moth and the suspended papers were beautifully atmospheric and I loved that there were sittables that didn’t resemble chairs in any way. I also enjoyed the way the bed set object transformed throughout the piece.
Soundboard
I had a bit of trouble with the number of atmospheric sound effects (like tv sounds and sirens) but I loved the rest of the sound design. Did that bother you?
Bo
I enjoyed that I felt a little overwhelmed by some of those sounds. The play is set in the heightened and re-formed world of memory, so it seemed appropriate to me that certain sounds would be almost distracting. For me, those instances registered as moments of sense memory for the main character — that his memory of the situation (and I will argue later that the play was from his perspective) was inextricable from the sounds that imprinted themselves on him in the moment.
Soundboard
I guess we’re moving away from design, but did you feel that Sebastian was in control of the story or just that it was from his perspective?
Bo
I think the play isn’t clear about that, to its detriment. At times it seems as though Claryssa is in charge of pushing the story forward, but the story is so undeniably focused on Sebastian’s need that I had to understand it as being through his eyes. We hear the voice of Saint Sebastian, for example.
Soundboard
That’s a really good point.
Bo
I thought Hannah Parke was fantastic in a role that could very easily have gone towards the shrill and overacted side of things. Her body language was marvelously teenager — for example, the way she kept her chin down to glare was definitely evocative of high school for me.
I enjoyed Nicholas Sheppard’s performance for the most part, but occasionally I found it gratingly gawky. I thought a few of Sebastian’s more inept moments were inflated to a level that took me out of the show, and that at times his vocal energy just felt exhausting. However, I do think he brought some charm and simplicity to a tricky character, and I appreciated his lanky awkward physicality.
To be honest, though, I’m not entirely sure how much of Sheppard’s performance was him and how much of it was Michael Osinski’s choice of a heightened style for this play.
Soundboard
I enjoyed how much he was able to physically inhabit the various characters through the play.
Bo
Right! You are right, thanks for reminding me. Both performers were really great at that, and I think Osinski did a lot of great work on making those character shifts strong. And just to be clear on my earlier comment — I think that stylizing the play and the character was the right choice for Moth, and very smart on Osinski’s part. Overall I thought the direction was pretty great. I just wonder if by the end of the run (which is when I saw the play), Sheppard had taken what came across as tight in Parke and made it a little more … bombastic.
Soundboard
That’s very possible. It’s a fine line to maintain
Bo
I also think I should probably take this moment to be honest about what I left with, which was a deep frustration at witnessing a play that claimed to be about two teenagers but ultimately was the story of a young white man with a god complex.
Soundboard
Can you say more about that?
Bo
I think the play was profoundly irresponsible and not inclusive at all. Bullying is an important topic, and I think it is deeply problematic that we as a country don’t like talking about mental health. It is fair to try to make the point that we would rather eradicate or ignore the problem that create sustainable and welcoming systems for individuals who are suffering from mental health issues.
However, it is wholly irresponsible and alienating to write a play that focuses on the male character’s reaction to bullying and limits its depiction of the female character’s reaction to a sexual assault to her sleeping in a cave. There is no way around the fact that Moth includes a sexual assault of a teenage girl by her best friend, and never confronts that situation. In fact, the play ends with her begging HIM for forgiveness, because she wasn’t able to move past her trauma in a few short days and save him.
I’m sure there is the argument “but he forgives her.” That doesn’t address the sheer disregard for Claryssa’s mental health that is inherent in the text. She was betrayed by her best friend and had a first sexual experience that ended in violence, and the play silences her. Literally sends her to sleep.
This is infuriating to me. It sends the message that the female body is just a prop for a conversation about male well-being, and that people who identify as female are responsible for the brilliant men they are close to.
Soundboard
Especially since the best Sebastian ever got was a C+
Bo
Well, I think that Sebastian’s grades are sort of immaterial, and that we are to understand him as a creative mind that could’ve been capable of beauty.
Soundboard
I don’t know, I always saw him as blundering from start to finish, but either way, it’s irresponsible
Bo
Yeah, you’re right. You can see it either way.The use of Saint Sebastian in the piece reminded me a lot of the life of Yukio Mishima, who was also compelling and insane, and hoped for the cleansing of the world through violence. But I don’t know if that was intended.
Soundboard
There is a lot of anime influence, but I have no idea if that was meant to reference Mishima
Bo
Mishima staged a picture of himself as Saint Sebastian
Soundboard
Yukio Mishima as St. Sebastian
Oh wow, that’s fascinating.
Bo
Anyway, I think Osinski did a lot to try to alleviate the text’s focus on Sebastian, in creating depth for Claryssa and keeping her active on the stage.
His direction treated her as someone who had experienced a trauma, I felt, but there is only so much you can do with a play that reduces it to the same importance as a particularly hurtful insult.
Soundboard
So irresponsible text, well-intentioned direction?
Bo
Yes, well summarized. And I think skillful direction! It is no small feat to keep that play moving, to make sure it never nosedives into realism, to draw out the absolute and cringe-inducing ways teenagers can be cruel. I felt visually engaged the whole time, and really liked how much comedy he pulled out of the piece. In some ways, though, the fact that the design, acting and direction were all above-par makes me more frustrated. For me, this play doesn’t deserve such a compelling and elegant production.
bonaly 