Number 9 Reviews

" Once again, the company have a knack of saving the best until last. No more so than here, with Alan Hall's most excellent script called, 'Crimson Eyes'. Here we return once again to the monologue, and a very serious and truthfully handled piece about homelessness, performed with great sensitivity by Megan Pemberton (directed by Liam Fleming).  A good backdrop, excellent interaction with unseen passers-by, wholly beliveable and despite it being a very down-beat and serious ending to the evening, it left us with some very sobering thoughts. "

The Upcoming

" Alan Hall’s hard-hitting Crimson Eyes is a bleak gut-punch. Megan Pemberton’s taut performance as the smart young woman Phoebe, who accounts for her fall into homelessness, is definitely stirring. Hall’s difficult monologue spikes with anger and despair as he chronicles Phoebe’s pitiful collapse into life on the streets. It’s a much-needed reminder of life’s precariousness when one slides towards homelessness.  Hall and Pemberton (with apt direction from Fleming) leave us with an arresting look at a crisis only set to get worse in the wake of the pandemic. "

The Reviews Hub

" Alan Hall’s concluding piece Crimson Eyes is the most overtly political, a single person to-camera monologue about homelessness that carefully avoids sentimentality to highlight a chain of events that leave Phoebe on the streets. Megan Pemberton’s carefully managed performance is particularly impressive, creating a resilient spirit in Phoebe that refuses to be cowed even when describing the toll events have taken on her.

Pemberton hits all the right emotional notes as she relays Phoebe’s biography. Yet, she never cries, the impact of her experience enhanced by the lack of tears. Hall intersperses asides to unseen passers-by to ground his character in a convincing reality and this is one of the strongest pieces in this episode of Bare Essentials. "

Theatre Weekly

"Alan Hall’s Crimson Eyes is poignantly written and features a superbly engaging performance from Megan Pemberton.  After watching this particular piece, it was clear why some of the creatives behind Bare E-ssentials: A New Hope were donating the money they raised to "

Mind the Blog

" This piece is hard-hitting, yet entertaining "

" Including some pertinent facts and figures by way of an epilogue is a good conversation starter "

" I think this piece should definitely be seen more widely in its current form "