Plug-In: Passing Moustache
Passing Moustache. A poetic, sweary and honest story of love in all its forms. How love, or the lack of it, shapes change and how we deal with it.
Recently, The Creative Wire caught up with the Writer behind Make it Write’s newest theatrical adventure, Passing Moustache and got to grips with what exactly it is about. Tantalising morsels have been left across social media platforms for several months. I had some idea but I let Ted Gray, the writer of this deeply immersive and exploratory piece, explain further.
“The show is a theatrical look at our feelings and reactions to change. Our resistance, aversion, fear or embracing of change in ourselves or others,” says writer Edward Gray. Essentially, this is done through the use of interlinking conversations”.
He explained further.
“There is a secondary theme of appearance. How we look, how we feel about it and how others see us. How does what we look like affect others”?
I then asked Ted how the creative journey began.
“Passing Moustache started as a micro-fiction challenge from my artist/writer friend Susan Comer. She wanted me to tighten my prose and discover what could be said with pauses, punctuation and carefully placed words with multiple meanings. That piece lives on as the chorus or refrain between scenes. More of a song chorus than Greek chorus. Sharon Colpman liked my chorus/micro-fiction but suggested I write something around it. I wanted the people who we see every day in the street, but without realising what goes on behind the curtain of normality. The characters are all “normal” but never ordinary. Gradually a form of storytelling evolved but it is without a plot. The story is coherent but there is no journey, no quest… no tropes. Sharon’s words are that it breaks over you like a wave, recedes, gathers momentum and breaks over you again and again.
Sharon wanted Make It Write to produce the play but we spent a long time trying to find a director who could do it justice and was available. After talking with Merv Jones we knew we would wait for him as he was the perfect fit ”.
And then the exciting bit. The final journey to the Stage.
Merv then hand-picked his cast. Each person is selected for professionalism, understanding and willingness to venture into difficult territory. The cast has embraced the challenge with the most humbling gusto, working their way ever deeper into the nuances of language and character. Peeling back the layers, and in the process laying themselves bare. Their level of skill and willingness to learn is remarkable. Some are local and some travel in from across the North West to be part of it. There is a cast of seven, large for an unfunded production, but in combination, they cover much of our society…
Why come and see the performance?
“Music and sound are significant elements. It is laugh out loud funny at times. Sweary and blunt, yet poetic in its constant reference to the sea and the influences of a port city. The cast and crew, like Liverpool, are white, black, mixed race; neurodiverse; Scousers, wools and migrants; working class, middle class and Southerners. People we see on the street every day, but never ordinary and all with a tale of life. The actors love the work as there are no tropes or standards to lean into; every word counts and it challenges them in every line. It is constantly exciting”
He continued.
“Passing Moustache, directed by Merv Jones, is being performed at Hope Street Theatre, Liverpool, on March 1 and 2. It is being produced by Make It Write Productions. It is set in our port city of Liverpool and offers foghorns, ships’ horns, rigging, ship engines and other sights and sounds of the sea, ports, and shipping. It is a comedy, a love story, a biography, a tragedy, and a piece of performance art. We hope it makes you laugh, cry, curse, swell with pride, shout out in anger and laugh some more. It has done that to us through the process”.
The cast:
Alec Marriner …… Cory Sapienza
Barry Black …... Mark Prescott
Cee Green ….. Michelle Phillips
Dalibor Rybar ….. Terence Caddick
Eddie Pinkney …… Ted Grant
Fiona Fern …… Rachel Davies
Gerry Silver ….. Sonia Sidje
Please note this play contains references to sexual activity, suicide, pedophilia, mental health, domestic violence, offensive language and neurodiversity. Suitable for people over 16.
Tickets can be bought from Ticket Quarter
Covered by; Clare Mcgrath