Review: Moments @ Tobacco Factory

By Isobel Edwards, News Reporter

On 22nd and 23rd October, Tobacco Factory hosted three performances of Theatre Re’s Moments. The play explores a myriad of themes: time, loss, aging, parenthood, grief, connection and youth. But, what made Moments a surprising watch was its simultaneous focus on theatrical production. Moments enlightens its audience to how composition, lighting and action all intersect to achieve ‘that magical moment’ where authentic emotion may be both shared and felt.

In the attempt to relay the importance of these three integral elements of production, it makes sense that the audience is immediately made subject to their absence. The play opens in darkness to an uncomfortable cacophony of hurried voices, all overlapping to the point of intelligibility. There is no action on the stage, no lighting to guide or illuminate it and nothing that can truly be heard. This strategic discomfort, however, is soon relieved by the warm presence of Guillame Pige (movement), Alex Judd (composition) and Katherine Graham (lighting) who introduce themselves, their work and their shared reasons for creating Moments.

Moments is a play that posits the questions ‘Who are we?’, ‘What are we doing here?’, ‘Why do we do what we do, repeatedly?’ and ‘Is it worth it?’. Whilst such questions may feel heavy and existential, the play handles them with a gentle curiosity. Pige, Judd and Graham all showcase their technical and nuanced specialties with passion and delicacy; able to return the audience via collective memory to the sharp, visceral joys of childhood and through the turbulent and painful moments that arise with aging and loss of time. All the while, short bursts of breaking the fourth wall through scenes being replayed, redone and theatrically altered remind the audience of the power that lies with sound, lighting and movement in the construction of universal and powerful emotion.

If you are someone that finds intrigue in theatrical production – whether it be Graham’s mastery of over thirty light fixtures, Judd’s ability to manipulate the entire tone of a scene by the plucking of his violin or Pige’s capacity to allow the audience to emotionally connect with a chair – Moments is a play that will truly get you thinking about the philosophical principles of theatre and the psychic space it is able to carve out for us as audience members, but also as active participants.

Such insights are afforded through the exceptional collaborative work of Graham, Judd and Pige; having worked together for thirteen years, their familiarity with one another is felt on the stage and only emboldens their artistic potential individually and as members of a cohesive team. No theatrical element overpowers another, each creator is afforded the space to emphasise the importance of their own work. But more importantly, each element is shown to be essential to the other; by deconstructing and separating lighting, sound and action, the audience are shown that one cannot exist singularly in the pursuit of feeling.

At times, it was difficult to believe that these moments of supposedly spontaneous rehearsal were in fact part of the performance, it truly felt like you were watching a team of professionals create something in the raw and immediate moment.

As the narrative develops, Moments explores the possibilities that arise if one could harness the power to control time and asks its audience: where would you go if you could relive, replay and re-appreciate past moments, even those that were thought to be irrevocably lost? Enriched and saturated in deep and personal meaning, the narrative asserts that, indeed, life is short and our time ultimately finite. But, through the magic of theatre, creativity and imagination, we may return to those lost places of pain, warmth and joy.

All photos courtesy of Chloe Nelkin