Nigel Berkeley and Corey Farrell Photo by Bruce Silcox

Moonwatchers is a confection from two fresh-faced theatre talents, Nigel Berkely and Corey Farrell, who created the play and make up its entire cast. Moonwatchers was a hit at the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival (hence, its fringe-friendly running time) and so charmed Open Eye's Artistic Director Joel Sass that he invited them to remount the show for a three-week run. It is a sweet, good-hearted, gently funny, and inventive work that takes delight in ultra low-tech effects and stagecraft.

After some pre-curtain shenanigans that involve tossing a light-as-air milky white ball around the audience, Moonwatchers begins with Alan (Farrell) and Robert (Berkeley) at their stations where they illuminate the moon (and haven't we just seen that orb?) every evening. They make sure that the cow jumps over the moon at its designated time and that a comet whizzes above it, with smile-inducing cartoon cut-outs on sticks providing the effects. Just three times a year they are allowed the extra excitement of directing a UFO around the moon. That is pretty much their gig.

Alan is the senior moonwatcher, and Robert is hoping Alan will put in a good word for him for a raise. Farrell and Berkeley have a sweet chemistry between them and a sure hand with amusing–if not hilarious–bits of wordplay and whimsy that keep us engaged. The plot thickens when the moon disappears. Though there is no reason to believe he is responsible, as the junior moonwatcher the blame goes to Robert, who leaves in search of the missing moon. Alan stays behind, as he must fill in, in a manner for which he is well suited, for the moon until the genuine article is recovered.

The course of Robert's search introduces several more characters. First we meet Fisher of Starfish (Farrell), dressed like a way-north Minnesotan, with an accent that sounds markedly Scottish; Bessie the Cow (Berkeley), who is mortified at having to jump over Alan when he is subbing for the moon; and Tommy Rumble (Farrell), a hard-hitting, rough-talking old west guy, and his "boys"–who prove to be, well, less than formidable back-up. The plot, loose-limbed as it is, sorts itself out without too much difficulty, with the action shifting from the moonwatch station to the Milky Way Bar and back again. The play ends with all of us able to breathe easy, knowing the moon will continue to rise and brighten our night skies.

Berkeley and Farrell are a delightful pair to watch. In the early going they bring to mind the Smothers Brothers, with Farrell's Alan akin to Dick Smothers, the more senior and serious of the twosome, trying in vain to reign in the juvenile ramblings of brother Tommy, or in this case, Berkely's Robert. I found them most appealing, though, as Bessie and Tommy Rumble, each of the actors having fun with comical portrayals of those characters, who are a bit more colorful and dramatic than their doppelgangers at the moonwatch station.

The design work, like everything about Moonwatchers, is disarmingly simple but effective. Placing Alan and Robert's workstation within a puffy white cloud that looks suspiciously like absorbent cotton, and costuming them in jaunty jump-suits, no dazzling space gear needed, feels spot-on. Turning Berkeley into Bessie the Cow by popping on a bucket hat with a black and white cowhide print atop head is genius, and Roberts' transition into Tommy Rumble by way off a cowboy hat is classic. The two face off in some funny business involving kazoos, pronounced with the accent on the "ka" to make them sound dangerous. There is also splendid use of the pit in front of Open Eye Theatre's small stage to depict Robert's flailing about as he travels through space.

I thoroughly enjoyed Moonwatchers, even while recognizing that it was doing no more than gently tickling my funny bone and warming my heart with its playful creativity. "Play" is very much the word here, not in the sense that Moonwatchers is a deeply crafted play (it isn't), but because it generates a feeling that what Berkeley and Farrell are up to is more like playing a "let's pretend" game (albeit, a scripted one) than acting out roles in play. Also, its brief duration is well suited to a playful attention span. Moonwatchers is featherweight fun to watch and even made me a bit nostalgic for the kind of inventive play I experienced back when I was a boy, and later as a parent at play with my children. Thanks, Moonwatchers, for turning up those long buried but fond feelings.

Moonwatchers runs through September 22, 2024, at Open Eye Theatre, 506 East 24th Street, Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please visit openeyetheatre.org or call 612-874-6368.

Creators and Performers: Nigel Berkeley, Corey Farrell; Set Designer: Joel Sass; Lighting Designer: Joe Chambers; Creative Technical Director: Brandon Sisneroz; Stage Managers: Erin Sondrol, Corrine Steffens; Producer: Joel Sass