Moonlight (play)


Moonlight is a play written by Harold Pinter, which premiered at the Almeida Theatre, in London, in September 1993.

Setting

THREE MAIN PLAYING AREAS:

Synopsis

Andy, who is on his deathbed,
rehashes his youth, loves, lusts, and betrayals with his wife, , while simultaneously his two sons – clinical, conspiratorial, the bloodless, intellectual offspring of a hearty anti-intellectual – sit in the shadows, speaking enigmatically and cyclically, stepping around and around the fact of their estrangement from their father, rationalizing their love-hate relations with him and the distance that they are unable to close even when their mother attempts to call them home. In counterpoint to their uncomprehending isolation between the extremes of the death before life and the death after is their younger sister, Bridget, who lightly bridges the gaps between youth and age, death and life.

Characters

  • ANDY, a man in his fifties
  • BEL, a woman of fifty
  • JAKE, a man of twenty-eight
  • FRED, a man of twenty-seven
  • MARIA, a woman of fifty
  • RALPH, a man in his fifties
  • BRIDGET, a girl of sixteen

    Productions

Premiere

First performed at the Almeida Theatre, London, on 7 September 1993; transferred to the Comedy Theatre in November 1993
;Cast
  • Ian Holm
  • Anna Massey
  • Douglas Hodge
  • Michael Sheen
  • Jill Johnson
  • Edward de Souza
  • Claire Skinner
;Production team
  • David Leveaux, director
  • Bob Crowley, Designer

    New York premiere

At the Laura Pels Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, 27 September – 17 December 1995
;Opening Night Cast
  • Melissa Chalsma
  • Blythe Danner
  • Paul Hecht
  • Barry McEvoy
  • Jason Robards
  • Liev Schreiber
  • Kathleen Widdoes
;Production team
Part of Harold Pinter Double Bill originally broadcast to marking Pinter's 75th birthday, in October 2005; rebroadcast as part of the Harold Pinter Tribute on BBC Radio 3's Drama on 3, on 15 February 2009.
;Cast
  • Harold Pinter
  • Sara Kestelman
  • John Shrapnel
  • Jill Johnson
  • Douglas Hodge
  • Harry Burton
  • Indira Varma
;Production team
  • Janet Whitaker, director
  • Elizabeth Parker, Music

    Works cited

  • Pinter, Harold. Moonlight, New York: Grove Press, 1994. . .
  • –––. . Harold Pinter Double Bill. BBC Radio 3 Drama Programmes – Drama on 3. BBC, 15 February 2009. Web. 15 February 2009.