←Recommendations of Monsters Are Made

I've rarely been more tense in a theatre than while watching Hannah's wonderful play. There were times when I literally had to clench the sides of my seat to keep from jolting up and trying to stop a character from taking an action. Hannah is deft at creating humans who are intrinsically drawn towards each other in the most explosive ways. I was left wrestling with my own thoughts about forgiveness and repentance after watching this play - and that's what great theatre should do.

With echoes of Sarah Kane, Langley ventures into the nearly taboo territory of friendship after a sexual assault. This is a relentless, white-knuckle affair, and I have a lot of respect for Langley seeing this plot through to its inevitable conclusion, and going where a lot of writers would not dare. It’s most impressive feat is forcing the audience to contemplate the limits of forgiveness, while getting into the mind of an apologetic predator. The line “you’re still my best friend” has never been so uncomfortable.

Monsters Are Made is a beautifully written story about the aftermath of a rape that occurred between two friends. The characters are so real, and their emotions bleed through the script. The only thing that could make this experience better would be to actually see it performed on stage!

I really enjoyed reading Monsters Are Made because in addition to the wonderful theatricality, the story feels very real, and very now. This play brings up a timely and important conversation about white male privilege and consent without hitting you on the head too much with it. Obviously inspired by the Brock Turner Court Case (a rapist who used to be a star swimmer) Monsters Are Made opens a dialogue on consent and toxic masculinity, which poses the question: Why are men being educated in a way where they believe actions like this are acceptable?

The script is so lovely and horrific and heart breaking. The concept alone has you diving in at the beginning. The minute Hunter walks in you find yourself shocked and in just as much of a passionate anger as Ricki. The stakes stay and remain high throughout and the brutal honesty of how there's no solving for what Hunter can do to atone for his sin--and the fact that he forces Ricki to deal with that burden of forgiveness starts such an important conversation. This is a beautiful play that is so tough and so important.

I. Love. This. Play.
Please, please support it, we need this play RIGHT NOW. I'm so grateful that Hannah has written this story. Great characters, tight story, I can't wait to see where it goes.

When a horrific act is perpetrated is forgiveness possible? Is reconciliation possible? Is true justice possible? These questions and so many more are asked in this thrilling two hander set in a world where time and the laws of physics are in flux. It's a play for the #MeToo era that I believe will last. Picking up the pieces and making sense of things when ultimate betrayal comes from loved ones will never not be a human issue. I'm just glad there are plays like this one that brings it to the light and makes us face it head on.

Another deeply moving and emotionally complex work from Hannah Langley. This play is swimming in some deep deep waters and I can't stop thinking about it.

"You know you're a rapist but you don't even know what rape means." To what extent should we understand the assailant, the rapist? What do you do with a perpetrator who demands his own punishment, when doing so is merely another form of control, dominance, and presence?

This is a strong two-hander, currently in development, one that poses difficult questions, with violence and humor, but openly searching for a true and honest path to justice and redemption.