BEAST ON THE MOON

The Guardian
Saturday November 3, 2007
Nottingham

Richard Kalinoski’s play dealing with those living with the legacy
of genocide was premiered in this country at BAC in 1996. It’s a
little play, but one with a big heart, as it tells an unexpected
love story. Set in Wisconsin in 1921, it begins with the arranged
marriage of 15-year-old Seta to young Armenian Aram. Both have lost
entire families in the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Ottoman
Turks against the Armenians between 1915 and 1917 in which 1.5 million
Armenians were killed. But the question raised by Kalinoski’s play is
whether the pair can overcome the past to create a future together. At
a time when Turkish attitudes towards the Kurds are being highlighted,
it’s a good time to remember the events of almost a century ago.