Moon on a Rainbow Shawl at Cottesloe Theatre, National Theatre

By Fiorenzo Cecere

By the time its first Act ended, I had already made up my mind: I personally think that ‘Moon on a Rainbow Shawl’ is the best play of the year so far. 

A strip of a run-down Trinidadian residential area, on which three different households are situated, segregates two sets of audiences within the intimate and almost claustrophobic Cottesloe Theatre.

For me, the star of this play is Martina Laird, who plays Sophie, a no-nonsense, sceptical and world-weary woman.  She worries about her husband’s drinking ways and new-found foray into crime, which could perilously eat into their meagre finances intended for their young daughter’s scholarship. At the opposite lives a loud-mouthed and insensitive prostitute with an attitude in a top-floor maisonette.  Her relationship with an ugly sugar daddy provides comic relief aplenty.

In between, a young man by the name of Ephraim lives alone in a bedsit.  A la James Stewart’s character in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, Ephraim yearns to flee from his bleak surrounding in order to achieve his seemingly impossible dreams.  But his girlfriend has fallen pregnant, which brings about a great dilemma for Ephraim: should he abandon her, or stay with her?

The acting from the whole cast was exemplary and this play has a fine balance of serious issues and comical moments, which makes one feel totally captivated.  This theatre provides an intimate atmosphere as always, which certainly makes the audience feel totally submerged in this play.

Well done to everyone connected with this production.