Review: Lune by Pamela Ghislain at A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Glasgow - UK premiere
Award-winning Belgian play Lune by Pamela Ghislain is performed in English for the first time this week at A Play, A Pie and A Pint. Lune is at Òran Mór, Glasgow, until 24 October. Read my review here.
Lune ★★★★☆
Review: 20 October 2026 | Òran Mór, Glasgow
Lune was originally a French-language play by Belgian writer Pamela Ghislain. This week it's performed in English for the first time at its UK premiere at A Play, A Pie and A Pint in Glasgow. In a translation by Katherine Mendelsohn commissioned by Cross Channel Theatre and ARTCENA, Lune is a devastatingly relevant political drama about gender inequality and the power of the individual.
Lune Bogaert (Kim Allan) wants to sue the Belgian state for its failure to protect women. When her action is stalled by bureaucracy, she immediately sits, in protest, on the steps outside the Palace of Justice in Brussels and begins a hunger strike which inadvertently ignites a media wildfire.
Stressed working mum and government administrator Darya (Naiini Chetty), who filed Lune's complaint at the courthouse whilst juggling phone calls from an incompetent husband, becomes an unlikely ally as she confronts her own work and private life. While arrogant lawyer Gabriel, played with expert obnoxiousness by Andrew Rothney, is well-meaning but alas, repeatedly tramples insensitively over Lune's quiet defiance.
Directed by Wils Wilson for A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Lune is a beautifully constructed, powerful play, full of sharp dialogue that anchors the fight for women's rights in an exhausting reality of government bureaucracy. It's a fiercely intelligent, understated drama about one young woman who has had enough.
In the title role as Lune, Kim Allan is magnetic as the quiet, still, tired young woman who attempts to sue her state for its complacency regarding violence against women. It's a gorgeous example of how one small woman and one small protest can have such a ripple effect. There's a beautiful, devastating dignity to Allan's nuanced performance; one which requires her to sit on the steps of Izzy Gough's set and refuse to move.
Unfortunately, due to odd set shifts during the play, when a large block of steps was stood on end, I couldn't actually see her during some scenes. The tall piece entirely blocked the view of Lune for those of us sat to the right of the stage. This perhaps only impacted a small portion of the audience, but it was unnecessary and annoying nonetheless.
The intimate staging at Òran Mór is otherwise lovely, and is further elevated by Joe Miles's video designs, which insert clips from news broadcasts and social media feeds into the narrative. These sudden bursts of noise give the play a brilliant, raw documentary feel. I actually had to double-check that this wasn't a true story and that Lune wasn't a real person! She is not. But she could be. Lune could be any one of us. And that's the point. ★★★★☆
Lune plays at A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Òran Mór, Glasgow until Saturday 24 October
MORE: Find more reviews and news from A Play, A Pie and A Pint on Lisa in the Theatre here
Lune is produced by A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Òran Mór. Supported by the Institut français du Royaume-Uni, SACD and ARTCENA/CONTXTO as part of the IFRU’s’s Cross-Channel theatre scheme.
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