What does it mean to be truly seen and to see others as they wish to be seen?
“The Moors” interrogates this question through the story of two sisters, Agatha and Huldey, as they navigate their place in the world at an isolated manor on the titular moors of England.
From March 7-9, Pomona College Theatre’s first spring production, “The Moors,” written by Jen Silverman and directed by Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Talya Klein, delivered a morbidly funny and queer story.
The show plays at conventions of the Victorian genre, especially referencing Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, “Wuthering Heights,” which also takes place on the English moors. The two sisters’ mysterious brother has the same name as Brontë’s real-life brother, Branwell, and the production’s gloomy setting — a sitting room juxtaposed with a small dirt hill and tree — is based on the novel.
Through these connections, “The Moors” asks how to best find contentment in a lonely world that assigns a narrative. Is it better, the characters seem to ask, to strive for something more and risk the unknown, simply accept one’s fate or lament it?
“This play talks a lot about self-awareness, seizing your destiny, changing your narrative,” Klein said.
Agatha — played by Fiona Larsen-Teskey SC ’26 —and Huldey’s — played by Kira Barker SC ’26 — fragile equilibrium is disrupted by the arrival of a governess, Emilie, Meadow Mota CM ’28. While Agatha is presented as cold and controlling, Huldey is naive and dramatic, with an obsession for writing in her diary. Interactions between Agatha, Huldey and Emilie are interspersed with existential conversations between animals, the Mastiff — played by Mason Cotton CM ’25 — and the Moor-hen — portrayed by Molly Grace Chakery PO ’28 — who crash near the manor.
Throughout the play, the lack of connection between the characters, compounded by the isolation of the manor, spirals into fatal consequences for Agatha and the Moor-hen.
Klein particularly enjoyed helping her students discover the characters and hoped it helped the audience reconsider their daily lives.
”I hope that it makes them think about the roles that we play in our lives, either knowingly or unknowingly, and whether these are things we have done willingly,” Klein said.
In contrast to the play’s dark setting, the small cast grew particularly close over the course of the production, as Barker attested.
“After the second week, all our inhibitions were down, and we were all acting super goofy and weird,” Barker said. “If you’re in theatre, you need to be super open … and I think we were able to do that with each other.”
Several stand-out scenes involved the romantic tension between Emilie and Agatha. During a walk in the moors, an argument leads to an entirely unexpected kiss.
“I cannot stand weakness … Here, I’m surrounded by merciless strength,” Larsen-Teskey said as Agatha. “Did you sleep with [the letters] against your skin? You did dream of me … You were seen as you had never been seen before.”
Attendee Rowan Gray CM ’26 appreciated the romantic chemistry between Agatha and Emilie.
“A lot of the scenes with Agatha and Emilie … there was a lot of tension in them, which I was not expecting,” Gray said. “I think their chemistry evolved really naturally and really well.”
The play blends gothic romance and drama with dark humor.
“There is no language for all the things we have lurking within us, no matter how much we write in our diaries.”
Marjory/Mallory — portrayed by Ellery Koomen SC ’27 — a scullery/parlor maid who constantly switches personas, plants an idea in Huldey’s head to kill Agatha and make her famous. After an argument with Agatha, Huldey repeatedly hits her over the head with a tray before immediately launching into a dramatic rock ballad.
The conversations between the Moor-hen and the lonely Mastiff are a poignant mixture of existential angst and humor. In one surprisingly funny moment, the Mastiff attempts to explain happiness to the Moor-hen.
“It is a feeling like a fist right where your heart is, further underneath, where it hurts, and then it’s not, and then you want it again,” Cotton says as the Mastiff.
“So, indigestion?” Chakery replies as the Moor-hen.
Despite the Mastiff’s love and care for the Moor-hen, he has little idea of how to express it, ultimately leading to violence. Larsen-Teskey spoke to the ways in which the play addresses the inescapable nature of gender dynamics.
“I was always really moved by [the Mastiff and Moor-hen scenes] and really disturbed by those because the only male character in the show, despite not wanting to be, ends up being a predator,” Larsen-Teskey said.
At another moment in the show, during her argument with Emilie, Agatha reflects on the nature of happiness.
“Everybody is very, very unhappy … There is no language for all the things we have lurking within us, no matter how much we write in our diaries,” Larsen-Teskey said as Agatha.
“The Moors” is a reminder of the painful costs of being unseen and invisible in our daily lives and how far we are willing to go in this quest for happiness.
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