MOSCOS is a world in itself, and one that envelops you the moment you walk in. It is sort of nice to know that we were entering this world all together; the complete NSDF family united embarking on a journey.
The Lion Theatre Company's piece was a breath of fresh air in terms of aesthetics: thinking of a piece as a visual experience first. Bouncing around in space, the scarf puppet leads us behind the curtains into this gorgeously magical space of flying objects, planets and swirls of colour. Particular praise has to go to the tech team behind this show, that very adequately responded to the improv onstage.
The lavishness of costume was outspoken and bold, and seemed to possess an inherent playfulness that only new emerging works have. It seemed as if the piece said it’s okay to just revel in the beauty of what you see sometimes. Maybe that’s just enough.
It could have been just enough, was it not for this nagging feeling that I needed more.
Grasping at straws, I developed the impression this was a pasting together of devised scenes. I could envision the rehearsal process behind what was presented, saw the cogs turning, and this caused me to disconnect from the piece. I wanted more of the lovely scarf man and old masked man, to get to know them on a deeper level then just dancing in the air or shuffling around the stage. Lack of narrative does not have to mean lack of character development, and in this case these sadly went together.
It would be lovely to see MOSCOS in an immersive setting where the audience can enter this magical world, because, in the end it is a gorgeous world.