The Half Moon - Naughton Studio at Lyric theatre, Belfast
THE Lyric theatre has had the rather clever idea of running a pre-Edinburgh Festival series. The second offering was Alice Malseed's The Half Moon, a one woman show detailing the four ages of women – specifically, Tiger's Bay women; Ethel, Jeanette, Sarah and Pam.
The locale is important and well conveyed overall, with a touch of Marie Jones' ability to document the Protestant story. It is sentimental at times, and also quite brave.
Our first heroine, placed centre stage by the engaging Ruby Campbell, is Ethel. Her dreams of joining the Wrens and escaping the limitations of her life come to nothing when the posh English recruiting officer rejects her application.
This is because her form has not been signed by her bigamist father, or another male. The entitled English female recruiting officer's attitude was telling, and ghastly.
We fast forwarded to Ethel's life with her now husband Daniel, her 'plan B' if you like. She works locally, earning extra money as an abortionist. This was well handled, but still shocking.
Nearly found out by a police officer, Ethel and her medically trained husband Daniel continue to release young women from the trap of unplanned pregnancies. The implication here is that Cyril Connolly's quote about the death of ambition being a pram in the hall applies even more to women.
Ethel's daughter Jeanette has the same dreams of escape as her mother. She wants to see the world, any other world, but has a significant career in a hotel, rising to manager. But the Troubles are rumbling on and the Tiger's Bay address is a millstone.
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"We're not all like that here," she tells her boss after a particularly nasty murder in her part of the world.
There is a constant tension between love of home and wanderlust. While our women view Belfast fondly from Cave Hill with different beaus, they want something easier, freer. So Sarah, Jeanette's girl, having wisely refused a life with Andy – who's being groomed by the loyalist paramilitaries in a strong, slightly Sopranos section – ends up on a flight to Florida.
This is fun, with Campbell energetically signifying a new, sybaritic lifestyle, that is crucially away from the Troubles back home. She fancies the lifeguard, becomes pregnant, and decides to keep her baby daughter. This was touching and well done.
The plot – and Malseed tunes-into Irish memes about escape, including Brian Friel's – functions on a repeat loop. So, after the nuclear family arrive back in Belfast and Tiger's Bay, there is a desire for escape.
This time it's the mother, Sarah, who can't take her old life and leaves immediately after her daughter's 18th birthday party like an Anne Tyler heroine. There are questions unanswered, but we get a moving reunion after 12 years.
Pam stays in the improving dispensation, sorts out her abused cousin, is feisty and recognisably modern.
Emily Foran directed, producing some powerful passages. The beautifully ambient soundtrack created by Stuart Robinson seemed to represent time flowing on, but things not changing.
In the week of Sinead O'Connor's death, this powerful piece about the need for equality resonated. One or two caveats: maybe the early section needed a more old-fashioned depiction of Ethel's excitement.
And, possibly, the men did not emerge so clearly – but maybe that's the point.
:: The Half Moon runs at the Lyric theatre's Naughton Studio until July 29, book online via lyric.co.uk or phone 028 9038 1081.
