Behind the Moon is a gloriously triumphant victory of stage theatre. I went into it not knowing much, aside from the fact that it takes place in a Toronto-based Indian restaurant and stars one of Schitt’s Creek’s most endearing actors, Rizwan Manji. Aside from that, I was blissfully unaware of what I was sitting down for, and was mostly just impressed at The Belfry Theatre’s recent upgrades.
When the show started, I was delighted right off the bat by two things: the rapid-fire hilarious stage chemistry and quick wit of its central characters, and the fact that I had an empty seat on either side of me in an otherwise packed house.
The rollicking tale centres on two mismatched immigrants operating the Mughlai Moon, a take-out-style Indian eatery. Just as I was settling in for a good old-fashioned chucklefest and succumbing to the mood that overtakes you when the whole audience is laughing along with you, something changed. The mood (as well as the expertly executed stage lighting) darkened.
From that point on, the play was at turns jovial and knee-slappingly funny, heart-rending in its poignant portrayal of grief and loss, and jaw-dropping, edge-of-your-seat intense as a study of a slow descent into madness.
I’ve never experienced quite a roller-coaster of true emotion from a single-set, three-actor piece. It was a true attestation to the fact that not only is playwright Anosh Irani a master of translating true human emotion into the written word, but that these three actors (Rizwan Manji, Anand Rajaram, and Ben Yoganathan) are true masters of their craft. Every character felt complex and multi-dimensional. The story, although very far outside of this writer’s frame of experience, felt like it contained the essence of universal human experience. It was wholly relatable, despite being nothing I could ever know as a white boy from western Canada and not a Kashmiri from the Hindu Kush.
When the end came, and the stage was plunged into darkness before the house lights came up, there was a moment of stunned silence before thunderous applause erupted and the curtain call began for the three maestros. As they took to the stage, the entire audience stood as one, for there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that this was worthy of a standing ovation.
This had the same lasting effect as finishing a particularly good book, one that leaves you staring off into space for time, trying to reconcile what you’ve just seen with once again finding yourself in the real world. I drove home without turning on the radio, which is extremely out of character for me, unless I’ve just been forced to work a gruelling 14-hour day on a film set.
All of this to simply say: this is one of the most spectacular explorations of humanity I’ve ever seen on screen or stage, and I urge you, if you have the chance: go.
Behind the Moon
Various times, until Sunday, March 2
Various prices, Belfry Theatre
belfry.bc.ca