CMU School of Drama


Friday, December 08, 2017

“The Old Man and the Old Moon” at City Theatre

The Pittsburgh Tatler: I’d be hard pressed to identify a favorite from among the many moments of sheer theatrical magic in PigPen Theatre Company’s The Old Man and The Old Moon. Would it be that early, audible-gasp-invoking episode in the story when the Old Man (Ryan Melia) first climbs to the top of a ladder with a bucket of light to refill the moon (an effect achieved by ensemble member Curtis Gillen, with a large flashlight and, as best I could determine, a piece of paperboard), accompanied by the amplified sound of liquid pouring into a bucket, courtesy of ensemble member Arya Shahi? The sudden shift in scale as a monstrous, bony, shadow-puppet fish circles ominously around the tiny shadow of the old man sinking into the watery depths, just before the fish devours him? The delightful transformation of a wall of glass bottles into a xylophone? The flight of the glowing, water-gallon-bottle dirigible? The excited panting of the bleach-bottle-and-mophead dog (lovingly animated by Dan Weschler)? The flapping of the shoe-last fish?

1 comment:

Claire Farrokh said...

I was dragged to this show by Megan Jones a couple of weeks ago, and I really had no idea what to expect. I had heard of PigPen, but I had never seen any of their work and I didn't really know a lot about them. I think it was kind of good that I had no idea what I was in for, because I was completely blown away by the performance. Many years ago, high school Claire who didn't know anything about theatre saw Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway, and decided that theatre was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. PigPen's style is very similar to the style of Peter and the Starcatcher, and the feeling that I got when I saw that show for the first time was the same feeling that I experienced while watching The Old Man and the Old Moon. I remember after the show, Emma, Megan, and myself were discussing the show, and we all kept talking about how refreshing it was to see really good theatre. When you're constantly working on shows that honestly just don't end up being that good, it is so so invigorating to see a show like The Old Man and the Old Moon and say "oh right. That's why I'm doing this."