Ninth Moon, Oct 1999

 by Daniel Keene Keene/Taylor Project

at Beckett Theatre, Malthouse  until October 31, 1999

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Playwright, Daniel Keene, is committed to unveiling, through theatre, social inequities. His collaboration with director, Ariette Taylor, has produced a cavalcade of characters in stories of the underclass.

These are often performed in non-theatre venues although The Ninth Moon is in a major arts festival and performed in a theatre. It deals with two escapees from what appears to be the middle class this time.

Dan (Dan Spielman) and Chloe (Chloe Armstrong), two teenagers from a nice school and ordinary homes, elope on Dan's dad's old Raleigh bicycle. They hole up in a single, dank room until Chloe, who is barely post-pubescent, falls pregnant.

The rather too articulate Dan chooses responsibility and lands a job on a construction site with a trio of workers who become his friends and mentors. (Marco Chiappi, Robert Menzies, Stewart Morrit) The three men initially function as a chorus of disapproval then, later, as a watchful trinity.

Taylor uses the scaffolding design (Adrienne Chisholm) to capture both the building site and the temporary and precarious nature of the lives of Chloe and Dan. They seem vulnerable up on the platforms, climbing like monkeys over the scaffold and reaching for comfort in each other's arms during their first lonely period of separation from family.

The Ninth Moon is particularly moving and funny in its first half. Keene's skill in reflecting the speech and concerns of these young people, is outstanding. With few words, he draws vivid pictures of the three workers. His dialogue provides a feast for this exceptional cast.

Spielman is passionate, surprising and detailed and Armstrong has a warmth and commitment to watch in future. Chiappi as a sturdy immigrant, is warm and funny. Menzies captures the rough Aussie beautifully and Morrit is the voice of paternal reason. Some ethereal music by David Chesworth enhances the atmosphere.

There is little dramatic tension in the second half. The drama of the pregnancy dissipates and the story stalls. The collision of Keene's two modes- poetry and realism - is less successful. Long monologues by the three workers are anti-climactic, interrupting the dramatic development.

The fall Chloe has early in pregnancy is never resolved, Dan's smart  mouth attention seeking is diverted into odd performance poetry in a pub. The promise of the first  half is never fulfilled.

by Kate Herbert