Gritty in dramatic, simultaneously like and different than it's inspiration, "When The Heart Is Freed" is a sequel to Cross' "The Cage Which Holds a Heart" that perfectly honors it's original without being dependent on it. A sequel, it requires zero knowledge of its source material, allowing to function excellently as a stand alone play.

At face value, it's an atmospheric, tense, cop interrogation, in which the officer is questioning a possible suspect for a murder. Tensions run high, the stress is palpable.

Digging deeper, it examines the effects of an unintended consequence. A brisk procedural, that should be performed.

As the author of the piece that inspired this play, I must say: I LOVE IT!!! Picking up after the events of my play THE CAGE WHICH HOLDS A HEART, DC Cathro's WHEN THE HEART IS FREED works beautifully as a sequel and as a stand alone play. This play is dark and funny and touching all the same time -- a DC standard!
The revelations of details in this investigation into a bizarre death create an increasing unsettling picture in the minds of readers and audiences. It is incredibly captivating!
I love it, DC! Thank you!

Cathro’s follow-up to Monica Cross's THE CAGE WHICH HOLDS A HEART maintains the original's grittiness and protagonist's verbosity while moving the genre into something resembling neo-noir. It works beautifully, both as a stand-alone questioning by police and as an evolution – it's as though Sabrina has returned from an off-kilter alternate dimension and has landed hard in an uncompromisingly real world. The conversation is suspenseful and darkly effervescent. A strong two-hander with complex roles and a great potential for elegant visual storytelling.