Blend of humor and horror in UNCW's production of 'The Moors' will shock and entertain

"My sister Emily loved the moors. Flowers brighter than the rose bloomed in the blackest of the heath for her; out of a sullen hollow in a livid hillside her mind could make an Eden. She found in the bleak solitude many and dear delights; and not the least and best-loved was – liberty."

― Charlotte Brontë, author of "Jane Eyre"

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

― Groucho Marx

The juxtaposition of these quotes gives an idea of the quirky poetics that buoy the University of North Carolina Wilmington theater department's last production of the season. "The Moors," a 2017 exo-comedy by Jen Silverman, plays through Sunday in the university's Main Stage Theater.

Silverman has made a name in contemporary theater by asking many questions, discovering multiple answers and embracing the possibility of none. In "The Moors," Silverman explores existence and meaning beyond society's persistent, oppressive hangover regarding women's lives.

The faint scent of Gothic romance hovers about "The Moors" — of the isolated Brontë sisters' longings as expressed in their novels, letters and diaries — of Daphne du Maurier and Alfred Hitchcock, and even the mysteries of Arthur Conan Doyle. But Silverman wants more for the audience, and they invite the audience to encounter mystery in a world where nothing is what it seems, not even the family pet.

More: As Wilmington's Azalea Festival returns to spring, what's back, what's new and what's out?

"The Moors" is habited by sisters Agatha (Julia Murray) and Huldey (Lilly Ferguson); their maid, Marjorie-Margaret-Mallory (Kathryn Dowdee); and an anthropomorphized dog, Mastiff (Cole Warren). Living together on the lush, windswept heather desert of the Yorkshire moors shapes each woman's character.

There is an unseen presence — Branwell, brother to Agatha and Huldey, is confined to the attic (think the madwoman in "Jane Eyre"), his position and authority usurped by Agatha. She uses his identity to conduct an epistolary affair with Emilie (Maddy Tamms), a young governess lured to the parsonage to care for a non-existent child. Is your curiosity piqued? Good, because it plays out deliciously, blending horror and humor. It may shock you.

What we boringly box up as sexual identity and otherness collide in the surprising relationship between Mastiff and a wounded Moor-hen (Amber Bullock). Warren and Bullock so beautifully live in their scenes that one might root for the couple to succeed. But here, Silverman offers a space for exploring the destructive nature of obsession, perfectly intoned by the actors.

More: Brunswick Little Theatre presents the hysterically funny comedy ‘Mom’s Gift’

The power dynamics work their way through "The Moors."

Murray's Agatha glides through Silverman's idea about women and the inner strength that the character has learned from her bleak environment — how to fight for a space to become herself, as Agatha explains to Emilie on a walk through the lonely landscape. Murray's presence is almost operatic, even to the anachronism of her vocal delivery.

Tamms is pitch-perfect as the deceived governess, part Jane Eyre, and Maria von Trapp — she sings — and we can't help liking her. And Dowdee's maid and Ferguson’s Huldey reveal yet more about the power politics of the parsonage with chemistry and comic timing as they plot Agatha’s overthrow.

Mark Sorensen's costumes and Randall Enlow's quasi-period set and projections suggest an internal landscape. The old parsonage turned inside out at times to mirror the harsh exterior, all in service of the playwright's calculated whimsy as much as the text in exposing the characters that inhabit it. The pace of the production rarely sagged under faculty member Paul Castagno's direction.

"The Moors" is rich in meaning and observations about women and people more than dogs and Moor-hens. One could write a thesis on it. But, in the end, Castagno, his cast, and Silverman fulfill the main requirement for the theatre — to entertain.

Want to go?

What: "The Moors" by Jen Silverman, presented by UNCW's Department of Theatre

When: 8 p.m. April 7-9 and 2 p.m. April 10

Where: Mainstage Theatre, UNCW Cultural Arts Building.

Tickets: $15; $12 for seniors and UNCW staff; $6 for students

Details: 910-962-3500 or UNCWarts.universitytickets.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: UNCW's staging of Jen Silverman's 'The Moors' will shock, entertain