A series of 9 short original monologues under the banner title "Moments Of Connection" are available to watch either through The Royal Exchange Theatre's own website or their YouTube channel, until the end of August
These 9 world premiere performances were written in response to the current world situation with specific reference to the UK and the isolation that lockdown has caused. Written by members of the Royal Exchange's Young Company Writers' Group, they all express feelings of disconnection, or a need to connect / reconnect with friends, loved ones, the outside world, nature, themselves.
What is also interesting about these monologues is that they have been taken up by professional working directors and actors and filmed whilst in lockdown. The whole project was very collaborative, and the young writers were able to spend time over Zoom chatting with the directors and the performers in the hope that their words could be realised to their fullest potential.
Watching all 9 back-to-back yesterday, it was easy to see that although all nine writers approached the text and their perspective on the idea of (re)connecting comepletely differently, the overwhelming and overriding emotion was not only one of sadness and longing, but also one of hope.
Most of the nine were treated in a "conventional" way.. ie: a single actor sitting in front of the computer screen and acting their monologue directly to camera. Where this differed, where some film-like qualities were added to the monologue, the more interesting and the more watchable they became.
Certainly all 27 creatives deserve credit for their time and talent, and being able to produce such rich and heartening theatre in such depressive and uncertain times and prohibitive conditions. I enjoyed them all, from a lockdown realisation that your boyfriend isn't perhaps the one best suited for you ['Zeitgeist' by Elizabeth Logan, performed by Amy Forrest], to the beautifully poetic and descriptive language of Sydney's "spices and stories" ['Slow Cooking' by Elli Kypriadis, and performed by Maimuna Memon], to a young girl out late at night in the park obssessing about the moon ['Valley Of The Moon' by Eleonora Leemhuis, performed by Norah Lopez-Holden], to Sofia's retelling of her experiencing an impromptu flash-mob on London's tube.['A Moment Between Strangers' by Noor Kabbani, and performed by Kudzai Weise]. It has to be said though that this particular monologue was the only one to feature profanities and very strong language. Some kind of warning should perhaps have been given beforehand, since it was so very different from the others in this respect.
However, my two absolute favourites of the selection were Gabriela Garcia playing the very emotional role of Julia in a monologue called 'Paloma' by Iona Rainford-Miller. The singing whilst crying (despite my not understanding the words) was heart-wrenching. Beautifully written and a highly nuanced and extremely real portrayal. (directed by Miranda Crowmwell). Following this was Abigail Peszel's monologue called, 'From Next Door', which agan was a very real and totally believable characteristaion, this time of a young teenage girl sitting in her bedroom recording a diary blog into her computer, obsessed with the girl next door. They go to the same school, and yet she doesn't have the courage to speak to her, because she is perfect, especially her shoes... she always wears the most amazing shoes... until one day, she looks out of her window to watch her neighbour passing and she is wearing dirty scruffy old Converse.... and something's wrong...!. Directed by Bryony Shanahan and acted by Rhiannon Clements.
Hats off to the Young Company Writers' Group and thank you to all for bringing such well-produced and thoughtful theatre to us all whilst we are still unable to return to live theatre.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 26/7/20
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