←Recommendations of In the Serpent's Nest (formerly Queen of Sad Mischance)

In "Queen of Sad Mischance," John Minigan makes the personal story epic, and the epic nature of the story intensely personal. And this may be the greatest strength in a play that is built on strengths: strong themes, strong story, and particularly strong characters. A heartbreaking gem.

I read this play in one sitting. I ached for the characters' impossibly challenging situation, and enjoyed the well-crafted dialogue. There is a rich metaphor at the play's heart: Queen Margaret, one of Shakespeare's best-drawn female characters, who never got a play of her own. I would love to see this one produced.

Queen of Sad Mischance is a beautiful play that leads the viewer/reader down a path that is at once very sad and very human. The disintegration of one’s thoughts and mind, whether through Alzheimer’s or another cognitive disease, is something that many people deal with, but Minigan has portrayed it in a way that shows how the intersection of care and selfishness often clash in unexpected ways. The realness of this play is startling, and the choices and decisions made are, in ways, simultaneously terrible and pragmatic, resulting in a moving, thought-provoking play.

This is a play you can get lost in - the dialogue is well-paced, natural, and engaging. The characters are interesting, and it draws you in without any hard-to-produce bells and whistles. It's a pure study of characters, academia, and identity, well worth the read and (hopefully) lots of productions.

This is a very engaging three person play in which a storied academic with declining faculties jibes with her latest assistant who is trying to get a foothold in academia herself. The writing is so precise and the voices of the characters are so very distinct. It wears its intellect on its sleeve but is still accessible on a character level. An actor's dream.

The Queen of Sad Mischance is featured on the December 2018 episode of the Boston Podcast Players podcast (https://www.bostonpodcastplayers.com/updates/2018/12/5/john-minigan)

This Eugene O’Neill Theater Center New Play Conference finalist crackles with intimate conflicts both familial and professional. The desperate needs of three characters drive scenes quickly, and the dialog is witty and erudite. The play raises ethical questions about the care of Alzheimer’s patients, in particular, when is it more ethical to lie than to tell the truth?

The first two scenes of the play and an interview between host Greg Lam and John Minigan can be heard later this season on Boston Podcast Players, available on iTunes.

A stellar play, masterful playwriting, one of my favorite full-length plays on NPX. Unputdownable. A drama that is both intense and intimate, fiercely intelligent and emotional, appealing to both the head and the heart. In the hands of a lesser-skilled playwright, the debate about Shakespeare's Queen Margaret would be pedantic; however, like Stoppard's plays and Edson's WIT, Minigan's QUEEN OF SAD MISCHANCE makes its subject matter accessible while respectfully exploring a mental health issue: dementia. Producers, directors, actors, check out this play, get in touch with Minigan, make sure he's on your radar.

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend John Minigan and their play Queen of Sad Mischance as a finalist for our 2018 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one of 53 finalists out of more than 1,4200 submissions, the strength of its writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process.

This is a subtle and moving play that brings you along on a journey with three very real and engaging characters. All the elements and imagery of the story work as a coherent whole to make you feel for these characters who struggle against the limitations life places on them. The treatment of dementia is thoughtful and the question of what we owe each other and the limitations on what we can do, even for those we love, is vividly brought to life.

QUEEN OF SAD MISCHANCE is delightfully dizzying. What starts as a collision of personalities and intellect transforms into a heartbreaking tale of struggle, decline, and acceptance. John Minigan really breathes life into his characters so that all of their nuances and backstory seeps into each word as their relationships develop and devolve. #PlaywrightPlug