In medieval Europe, a wolf moon is the first full moon of the year. A winter night when lupine predators were at their hungriest and their howls rang out. For Akbar, an insomniac theatre critic who is afraid of the dark, the night is an uneasy place. Wolf Moon is her deeply personal voyage into the nocturnal world, as Akbar challenges herself to survive lightless nights on Sark, the world’s first “dark sky island” or last through Ruth Wilson’s 24-hour play The Second Woman.
Sleep has not come easy to London-born Akbar since childhood, a trait she traces to her family’s move here from Pakistan. They became temporarily homeless, surviving in a “disused building in north London” until a council flat was found. “I see how my insomnia might be a reaction against the early chaos,” writes Akbar.
