Half Moon is Offie finalist

At the beginning of January, when the New Year blues were hitting hard, we had some exciting news at Half Moon which managed to banish the winter clouds. Hot Orange, our immersive coming of age story about love, identity and forgiveness, became a finalist in the Off West End Theatre (Offies) for Young Audiences Awards for Best Writing.

The production was the first piece of theatre for young audiences by Amal Khalidi and Tatenda Naomi Matsvai and was a much deserved recognition of the writing pairs’ talents. The play was first developed in 2021 as part of Half Moon’s Narratives of Empathy and Resilience art form development programme, to create stories that reflect our diverse community, as well as support under-represented artists in developing their practice.

The award ceremony takes place on Sunday 25 February, so please keep your fingers crossed for us!

Last year, we were equally delighted that Azan Ahmed won the Offies Best Writing Award for our production of Daytime Deewane, a show that was inspired by the daytime raves of 1990s British Asian culture and explored the beauty and struggle of living with a multi-cultural identity.

Featuring a DJ mix merging soundscapes, dance music and spoken word, the show was hugely popular with teenage and adult audiences alike. We’re thrilled that the production is the latest offering to be added to our On Demand streaming service to watch at home, whenever you want.

Created as a way of connecting with our local audiences who couldn’t attend in person, Half Moon On Demand is a streaming service that offers theatre for young audiences any time, anywhere, for 48 hours. We currently have seven productions available including our production of Dust, which won an Off West End Theatre Award in 2022 for Best Online Theatre for Children Aged 5-11.

All of the online shows have closed captions for d/Deaf and hard of hearing audiences; three of the productions (including Daytime Deewane) have Audio Descriptions, which offer additional commentary that explains what’s happening on screen for blind and visually impaired people; while four of the shows are also offered with British Sign Language.

What are you waiting for? Join us for an online on-screen performance that puts the best seats in the house into your own home!

Stephen Beeny is the Communication Manager at Half Moon