MOTH, Malthouse Theatre

[sharplittleteeth]

I almost didn't make it to see MOTH at the Malthouse Theatre last night.

I caught the Number 1 tram from work. The rear door on the tram stopped working outside the Town Hall. Rather than drive on with the defective door closed, the tram driver spent 15 minutes first yelling at passengers to clear the doorway (it was clear), then flipping switches to try and make the door work. Which meant not only was everyone on my tram late, so was everyone on the trams behind us.

In the end, I ran all the way down St Kilda Road. ! made it to the Malthouse at literally the last minute before the show started.

I was sweaty, tired, busting for a pee, and pissed off at the tram driver's stupidity.

So it's a testament to MOTH that I forgot all of that within the first five minutes of the play starting.

Because I was hooked.

~

Here's the description of the play on the Malthouse website:

Sebastian is a terminally unpopular fifteen-year-old suburban kid, with an overactive imagination and an obsession with anime and death. His only friend, Claryssa, is an emo Wiccan art-freak barely one rung higher than Sebastian on the social ladder.

What starts as just another night drinking down at the cricket nets soon gives way to an ecstatic vision that leaves Sebastian unconscious, their friendship left in ruin. The next morning, he wakes up with a mysterious moth in a jar by his bed, and a calling to save the souls of all humankind. And so begins the Passion of Sebastian…

I loved this play. Absolutely loved it.

It was raw and dark and intense, but cut with humour and a fragile sweetness. It reminded me of Donnie Darko, and anime series FLCL. It had that same equation of adolescent angst with the end of the world. Which sounds pretentious, but is exactly how I felt as a teenager.

The set design is minimal: just three ripped grey carpets hung from the roof and draped across the stage. (Picture here.) The minimalism focused attention on the two actors, Dylan Young as Sebastian and Sarah Ogden as Claryssa.

I'll admit I was worried by the acting in the opening scene. It felt broad and forced.

But within five or ten minutes, the actors found a groove and I was drawn in. The characters they play are prickly and sarcastic, and it's a testament to both the writing and the acting that the vulnerability and the hesitant affection between these two outcasts shone through.

It's a harrowing play. It goes to some dark places, and it doesn't necessarily guide you back out.

But I'm so glad I made it on time to see it..

~

MOTH is produced by Arena Theatre, a company that specialises in live theatre for audiences aged 5 to 25. It finishes its run at the Malthouse this Saturday.

 

Comments

[blithespirit]

I wish I could see this. >.

[blithespirit]

And I wish LJ formatting displayed that emoticon correctly. :(

[sharplittleteeth]

It's touring up to Brisbane next, according to http://www.arenatheatre.com.au/show/moth

I imagine if you follow Arena Theatre on twitter (@arenatheatreco), they'd announce any Adelaide shows.