Rhum and Clay Theatre Company is a group of accomplished Lecoq-trained actors who skilfully perform their last play The Man in the Moone with playful physicality.
It’s a tale of man’s desire to reach the moon and escape this over-populated planet in order to establish a new society on the moon.
The opening shadow puppetry is enthralling with a haunting sound collage. The themes of faith, aspiration and inquisitiveness are explored through a series of loosely interlinked short scenes; some work better than others.
Our hero is fascinated by the moon and is drawn by its power and so he begins a quest to travel to it to achieve his dream.
He journeys to a mountaintop with an astronaut; a preacher and a ‘Shackleton’-like explorer, perhaps a metaphor for the play’s subject matter.
There are some delightful moments such as when the man says goodbye to his wife with perfect comic timing.
The whole play is staged with madcap whimsical humour and, whilst entertaining and quirky, it doesn’t quite soar to the mark set by the company’s previous productions, which is a pity.