If you miss Minnesota Fringe Festival, go see
Moonwatchers at Open Eye Theatre. It premiered at the 2022 Festival but I completely missed it. It's a very Fringey show, meaning creative, inventive, and less than an hour long. Continuing the year of the U of M/Guthrie BFA kids (I call them kids because I also received a degree from the U - in the last century), two graduates of that program prove its continued worth in our community and beyond. Nigel Berkeley and Corey Farrell have created something so unique, so downright silly, and so udderly delightful (pun intended). There are only four performances left; I recommend going if you need a little break from life to just smile and laugh and be transported into another world for a little while.
Corey and Nigel begin the show before the show by batting a small blow-up white ball around the audience, a sure way to get us to put our phones down and pay attention. When the story begins, they take their place behind a cloud-topped desk as two moonwatchers in Northern Minnesota (where it's so close to the moon you can walk there). Every day on the job is the same - turn on the moon, jump the cow and the comet over the moon, and turn off the moon. But then something happens to shake up the daily drudgery - the moon goes missing. That sets off an adventure around the galaxy, involving space cowboys and the aforementioned cow. The moonwatchers return from their adventures with a new appreciation for their work, and each other.
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| Nigel Berkeley and Corey Farrell (photo by Bruce Silcox) |
Nigel and Corey perform in such a natural and charming way, sometimes cracking each other or themselves up. We never forget that they're putting on a show for us, with some fourth wall breaking winks, which is part of the charm. The show is very loose and playful, while also being clever, well constructed, and practiced. Corey pulls out a guitar occasionally, for sound effects and to sing silly little ditties, that are sometimes almost poignant, but mostly just a lot of fun to listen to. This being Open Eye, they use puppetry with darling little figures on a stick, sock puppets, and other fun props. They also play with the lighting to create scene transitions and comic moments. All of this plays out against a backdrop of fluffy clouds, a wooden moon circle, and at times a gold tinsel curtain (set design by Joel Sass, lighting design by Joe Chambers).
Moonwatchers is a sweet little show, ultimately about friendship and appreciation of life. My only complaint is that it was only about 45 minutes long, not the 60 as advertised. I would happily have spent another 15 to 30 minutes with these loveable goofballs. Driving home, I noticed the nearly full moon in the sky, and it made me smile. I'm not sure I'll ever think of the moon in the same way again.
