As soon as you enter Between the Lines Studio Theatre, you are immersed in a mysterious and moody atmosphere, complete with wafting fog and subdued lighting. It’s an apt environment for the suppressed passions and desperate actions that take place on stage.
Welcome to “The Moors,” a deliciously dark Brontean satire, through Sept. 15 at the company’s theater at 725 N.15th St., Allentown.
The story is intriguing, evocative and a bit macabre; and like a horror film, there is plenty of foreshadowing.
When young governess Emilie, played to perfection by a prim, but eager Gianna Neal, arrives at Branwell manor, nothing is as it seems in this wickedly funny send-up of gothic romance novels.
The script features Jen Silverman’s clever twists and turns that bring together elements of both horror and comedy, which are brought to subversive life by Between the Lines’ talented cast.
Neal’s Emilie has been drawn - maybe lured – to the lonely manor by romantic letters from a mysterious Mr. Branwell, but when she arrives there is no man in sight and no sign of a child needing a governess. The only residents seem to be Branwell’s two quirky sisters, their slightly ominous maid (or maids) and a downtrodden dog.
Neal’s Emilie is understandably confused, but determined, as she tries to make the most of a paradoxical environment.
Julia Urich’s older sister Agatha is the domineering head of the household. Ulrich makes Agatha intimidating and cruel, with a grim focus on what she wants.
As the plot twists and turns and things are revealed, Agatha is shown to be even more coldly manipulative than she seems initially.
Darah Donaher’s Hudley, Agatha’s flighty younger sister, is giddy and impulsive. High strung and relentlessly positive in the face of her loneliness and frustration, she is yearning for excitement and to be noticed.
In a comic twist, Rachel Williams plays Marjory the parlor maid or Mallory the scullery maid, both of whom look alike and may be the same, but one is pregnant and the other has typhus (cue William’s quick hacking cough).
Heath Mensher is the deeply philosophical and unnamed mastiff who joylessly ponders the meaning of happiness as he lives under the thumb of Agatha, who describes him as savage. Mencher’s sad sack mastiff is strangely moving in his longing for love.
On the moor, he meets an injured moor-hen, made truly bird-like by Kate Pistone, who is chirpy and pragmatic, but still slowly giving in to the dog’s desperate affection. The outcome of the unlikely pairing is shocking, but should be expected.
The set ably pulls together the spare rooms of the manor (which all look the same) and the wildness of the moors.
Director Jason Roth gives the proceedings a quick pacing, so the play, which is performed without an intermission, zips by like a roller coaster to its outrageous ending.
Audience are advised there is strobe lighting used in the production.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for seniors and students.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 and 13; and 2 and 6 p.m. Sept. 15.
For information, go to betweenthelinestheatre.com