Mooncup Theatre Company present Off Your Bonnet at Shakespeare North Playhouse

A new theatre piece from Mooncup Theatre explores the themes of isolation, feminism and imagination through the parallel of our modern world, and the world that the Brontë sisters inhabited.

Mooncup Theatre Company is a woman led collective, the stories they tell is told via a female lens, and this influences the work they create. They deal with social injustice, gender inequality and put their own “bonkers” spin on it to open a conversation about the topics.

The woman led collective made a name for themselves on Liverpool’s independent theatre scene by hosting their “Scran & Scratch” evenings, where artists of all types could take to the stage and perform work they are wanting to “test” in front of a live audience. As well as, as the name suggests, having a bite to eat too.

Mooncup has evolved throughout the years. We caught up with company founder, Rebecca Clarke, and director of Off Your bonnet, Martyna Puciato, to find out all about this brand new show.

Rebecca Clarke told The Guide Liverpool:

“It [Mooncup Theatre] has morphed and changed a bit, the initial start was when me and Alice Phillips were working in LUSH together, and I was staring aimlessly at a bath bomb draining down the sink. She was just staring at me, I think she was a bit ‘peeved’ because normally she’s watching them drain down the sink…

“We got chatting, and realised very quickly that we weren’t going to fight about it… we were going to make a theatre company. The idea was to be part of on the verge festival which was a Hope Street Ltd. festival, to help aspiring artists make their first big work, by getting Arts Council funding etc.

“We then brought on other people including Isobel Balchin, Lydia Parsons, Leonie Parkes, and Martyna Puciato – who is the director of our new show Off your Bonnet.

“Being women led, it doesn’t mean that we don’t work with everyone across the board. It means that anyone who is a writer, director, or theatre maker within the company – it will be woman led.”

Martyna Puciato said:

“It is a play about 3 lovely ladies stuck in a flat during lockdown… we all remember that don’t we? And it ends up getting a little bit bonkers to be honest. The ladies start feeling like they are the original queens of isolation, which is Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë.

“If you know that gorgeous bit of literature, you can only imagine what begins to happen in the second act… but we’re not giving any of that away… but just pure madness.”

Martyna said:

“All our recent past project have been very participatory, and community based, so It has been a while since we have created a new show. But during lockdown we did a lot of virtual Scran & Scratch nights to reengage with our community.

“What is really interesting for this show, and what we have been exploring is women in isolation. Whether lockdown or not. A lot of women are being isolated – especially working class women… and it’s about, how does that isolation look for us, and how can we come together as a community to stop this feeling of isolation.”

Rebecca added:

“Yeah, not to give too much away of the ending, there is a real emphasis on the Sarah Everard case… and an understanding of what it is to feel safe as a woman in this world.”

Martyna said:

“Also for a lot of us during lockdown we actively decided to engage or switch off from social action due to what was happening around us. It was too much for some of us and that’s a conversation we will be covering in the show too.

“Making this has really helped us shake off the effects of lockdown, and we have done in the best way we know how, and that is by making it into art. We as a society have been through such a generational trauma, and it is hard to get out of it… and I think we are only just starting to shake off some of it… but a lot of us are still feeling it.

“It is such a pleasure being able to do this at the Shakespeare North Playhouse, the programme and the new work they are putting out is fantastic, and we can’t wait to dip our toe in there and show their audiences what Mooncup Theatre has to offer.”

What’s it about?

Lockdown hit, isolation began, and it was all a bit grim wasn’t it?

When three young women are stuck in the confines of their tiny flat with not much but their imaginations, each other’s company, an Ouija board and costume cupboard to entertain them, they decide to turn to the inspiration of the OG queens of isolation, The Brontë Sisters, and things start to get a little bit silly. Spirits are consumed and summoned as they immerse themselves in Brontëland and before long it’s hard to distinguish between the facts and the fiction….

Where is it?

Shakespeare North Playhouse

How much are tickets?

Tickets start from £3.00