What I liked
- Stellar cast: as the lead role with the bulk of dialogue, Ryan displays a passionate performance while playing the reserved, eccentric, but introverted lead who’s dealing with his personal trauma. He drives the descriptive prose of the play, which writes itself as a novel, allowing the story to progress and not be dragged by the wordiness. The rest of the ensemble (Isabelle Hahn, Lauren Holiday, Steve Voldseth) were perfect in their roles, making so much out of their respective lines and moments, really anchoring the emotions that the lead character lost and allow him to re-discover them.
- Great technical elements and direction: This play is perfect as a black box with a more minimalistic set design, which makes each detailed props significant. The lighting matches each tone and mood of every scenes extremely well.
What I didn't like
- I understand the play writes itself as both a novel and a one person show, but it is heavily reliant on the protagonist to drive the show in a way where there were moments that didn’t have time for us to process. There were a couple lines that is comedic that I feel like Ryan couldn’t afford to give them more breath to land or to form an opinion on. I also think the narration can take away the emotional moments for the rest of the cast because they spoke so much of what is unspoken. I wish there was more of balance in that regard.
- There was sound/background music within the beginning and end. While I don’t think any play should rely on music when it’s unnecessary, I think there can be credence given to more consistency within sound design, and I think some scenes can do with background music/sound and be helped with transitioning to another scene.
My overall impression
Nocturne is a personal story and a study of grief and loss, and the cast led by Ryan Lisman and directed by Damon McKinnis, were able to encapsulate the horror behind personal grief and how tragedy can drastic affect people.
