←Recommendations of Cathedrals (a monologue)

What a subtle, sinuous, artful depiction of unrequited love. Our narrator tries to escape through art and travel, but the longing endures. What makes this narrator particularly engaging is the rueful humor that informs their recognition of the absurdity as well as the poignance of their situation. This is a true work of art springing from a pained response to art.

When I read Scott Sickles "Cathedrals (a monologue)", I was reminded of the great 20th Century confessional poetry of Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell and Robert Creeley - a work that wraps itself like a tentacle around the heart and mind - yet, unlike those writers, avoids the abyss. Which is to say that there is the faint grace note of hope within this work. This is a monologue to be read, performed, and kept - to be read again.

To know a heart in its entirety is as impossible as fully understanding a work of art. Motive, desire, interpretation, bias, pain, fear, experience… This lovely monologue is elusive and challenging in the best ways. Look at it sideways, or stand back from it, or ask your friends what it means and tell them they’re wrong.

06.21.26 - Scott Sickles creates lasting art, as lasting as the stone sculptures he speaks of here. His writing is always chiseled beauty. He always seems to know just how much to take away from a solid block of an idea to reveal exactly what he needs to to tell his story. Here, the narrator tries to survive the pain of unrealized love amongst cold reminders of what beauty is. This is a wonderful monologue for an actor to try forming their own version of art onstage with.

The architecture of the human heart is a wonder. What at times seems like an impenetrable fortress is often the easiest to access. Our willingness to exalt the object of our affection with magnificent structures of mind bending beauty is the true miracle of human existence. I will forever be jealous of Scott Sickles ease of expression. How he builds ornate cathedrals with words while I struggle to get a Lincoln Log cabin to stay upright. A marvel of engineering, a great monologue for any actor.

Cathedrals is a breathtakingly beautiful, compact poem of a monologue. It takes the audience on a winding journey through a garden of abstract stone art and deep into the bruised heart of a narrator seeking sanctuary from the ache of unrequited longing. Sickles masterfully overlays art, stone, and self-deprecating humor amid classic literary nods and extended metaphors. It's painful and lovely and achingly familiar. An absolutely gorgeous piece for all actors.