Moon Fly Theatre Company was created this year with the aim of affording opportunities to new and promising writers, actors and directors. Sean Langtree, its founder, has set the ball rolling with his debut play,
It’s a diversion that will intrigue many
A young man sits alone on a park bench. We later discover that he is waiting for an unspecified person to appear. A stranger approaches him and asks if he may sketch his portrait. With some misgivings, the young man agrees. What ensues is described as ‘a coming of age story that deals with the clashes of two different generations’.
Director Martin Haddow says of the production, “It is now at the point where I have told my actors ‘your move’, where I will simply watch from afar and see this story take on more and more life as the weeks go on”. Perhaps he is aware that in some places the production is quite sluggish and that it would benefit from an injection of life, particularly in the portrayal of the stranger who remains snugly tucked into the corner of the bench for almost the entire play.
Vincent Maguire’s mellow tones and ponderous style give an appropriately haunting, mysterious air to the stranger. Mark McMinn as the young man, is far more animated and undergoes many changes of temperament in reaction to the stranger revealing passion, emotional depth and burgeoning talent.
The fascination with a A Face That Fits is in seeing where this harmless story leads. It’s a diversion that will intrigue many, but while the stranger might persuade the boy to reflect upon his life, the soul-searching might not reach out to everyone.
