←Recommendations of Marianas Trench (Part One of The Second World Trilogy)

Oh my, where do I start? I have truly learnt from a master here, such is the depth of story as deep and dark as the titular trench itself. We watch Teddy and Anzor begin an unbreakable bond, even through censored letters, both far too intelligent for their own good at times and both terribly haunted and troubled. But what astounds me the most is the way the author has created such an incredible, troubled, divided world described only by the words of his characters. A stunning play!

Now normally, I'd yell at anyone who made me cry this much for being mean! But in this case its one of many emotions you feel as you follow the relationship of Teddy and Anzor, both beautifully eloquent characters. You feel like you want to protect the characters from the horrors they face. The play just gives and gives and for me it was worth reading for so many reasons but my favourite is Teddy's final speach, just beautiful and sad. I will be reading the rest of the trilogy because it deserves to be read, despite the tears!

The tears. This absolutely incredible story has so many layers to it that at times you forget where it began and where it ends. The symmetry between Anzor and Teddy's relationship with the magic of Marianas Trench through the incredible eyes of redacted letters, is so brilliant. The line, "If I humiliate you so badly you can’t show your face there anymore, maybe you’ll stop sending my face there" made me cry for Teddy. This story is breathtaking. "you take a big, deep breath. I’ll do it with you..." I loved every purposeful second of this show!

Personal and political terrors combine with heartfelt adolescent yearning in this first part of Scott Sickles epic alternate-history/scifi dystopia trilogy, a story deeply layered with oppression, suppression, love, humor, and human connection. Two boys find each other through heavily-censored letters across the divide between the USA and the newly-formed Confederacy, their internal family dramas heightened and exposed by the ugly turns the world has taken. Both families are made up of gorgeously vivid and complex characters, who make good and bad choices as they each carry their own private burdens. A knockout.

I had the insanely amazing privilege to work with Scott as a dramaturg for this play at Portland Stage. To say that this play makes you feel seen is an understatement. The characters are whole and beautiful, the scenario poignant and real, and the emotions you take away will impact you forever. If you ever felt like an outsider as a child, read this play, and find a home within the depths of the love present.

Middle school was terrifying. I could empathize with Teddy entirely. In Sickles's play, there is also plenty to fear about the newly formed Confederacy, but the liberal haven of the North is not truly safe, either, for the two boys who have found friendship and love via a series of vulnerable letters. This play is a beautiful, heart-rending look at two boys trying to find love from two deceptively different worlds that would never allow it their love to happen. The visual poetry and dialogue are gorgeously woven together by the sure hands of a truly gifted playwright. Bravo, Scott!

Oh my gosh, this play is terrific. Two lonely 11 year old boys - one living in the US and one living in the newly formed New Confederate States of America - become pen pals and the only good thing in each other's lives. Beautiful and heartbreaking, Scott Sickles has created a world in the not-too-distant future which feels both terrible and entirely plausible. I loved these boys and this play. Now I have to read the rest of the trilogy. So, so good!

I was fortunate to see a Zoom reading of this play over the summer, during the pandemic. After about 5 minutes I forgot I wasn't seeing an in-person live performance, and I fell in love with Teddy and Anzor (I may or may not have been an unathletic gay nerd myself when I was 11 years old). 6 months later, I'm still thinking of Teddy and Anzor. Scott has captured so many things so perfectly.

It is really rare that one finds a play that is so vividly imagined as Scott Sickles' Marianas Trench. It is an adult play, yet the central characters, Teddy and Anzor, are 11 year old boys. They are rich, complex portraits of two queer kids coming of age in a dystopian America that feels terrifyingly real in our troubled times. Add to this dazzling theatricality, extended metaphors of deep sea diving that take your breath away, and an ending that made this Brit forget her stiff upper lip and just cry. Brilliant!

As fond as I am of Sickles' TARTARUS (so, so fond!) I believe the SECOND WORLD TRILOGY is Sickles' magnum opus, thus far.
MARIANAS TRENCH is an innocent love story in the face of tyranny. It's a love story in the face of childhood angst and bullying and sorrow. And then it turns into a story of escape, and hope.
Devious bastard that he is, Sickles laces all-too possible political turmoil and encyclopedic knowledge with the more irresistible, most adorable, most everyday cast known to humanity. Which makes the love story all the more powerful and hopeful.