YEP Presents A Monster Calls at The Everyman Theatre
A Monster Calls: RAWD REVIEWS
WRITTEN BY KEZIAH
‘The cast were incredible, the stage design was amazing and the messages were so powerful!’
My name is Keziah, welcome to RAWD Reviews! I am writing this review because I love write, see theatre and share my creativity.
On the 5th of July, I went to The Everyman to see A Monster Calls, a Young Everyman and Playhouse production. The show is about a thirteen year old boy called Conor, played by Finn Kearns, who was doing just fine until he learns that his mum, played by Moli Wyn, has a terminal illness. Now he has to deal with his meddling grandma, played by Niamh Parrington, and bullies at school played by Kieran Gregory, Adam Murphy, and Rebecca Warburton.
One night a monster visits Conor, played by Sacha Hales, Ammar Majeed, Megan Brady, Luigi Musa-Baldo, Alfie Ross, and Dan Sullivan, with ancient stories to tell him. Conor has to confront his deepest fears and discover unexpected truths.
The stage design was amazing, they had used wires, well they looked like wires, to create the effect of a big hanging tree and a window. Both of these moved up and down during the performance and transformed the set completely. I love the way they were interacted with. They also had chairs and desks for the school scenes and home scenes and a hospital bed.
The person playing Conor was amazing, he was a incredible performer and expressed a range of so many emotions, for example when he had a nightmare about his mum you could feel the desperation just from his voice. I think the person playing Conor is definitely going to go far in the future as he was incredible!
I also thought the person playing Harry was extremely good. He had amazing facial expressions and a great stage presence.
The whole cast were amazing.
At the beginning of the show there was little blip and the show had to be stopped for a bit, and when everyone came back on stage they just continued like nothing happened. I thought the cast handled this with professionalism and everything was resolved really smoothly. Hats off to them!
I love how the show dealt with grief, bullying and anger, I thought it was handled extremely well and I am still mad at the bullies which shows how good they were at acting!
One thing I thought was amazing was how they used and moved the tree wires around the bed. I also thought the part where Conor breaks his grandma's clock and it came about was really clever as it seemed easy to pull apart.
The show had a lot of messages. The messages that stood out the most to me were that it's okay to be angry and it's okay to let go of someone. The cast were incredible, the stage design was amazing and the messages were so powerful!
This production was a part of Young Everyman and Playhouse’s training programme. All the cast, the sound designers (Amy Hughes & Libby Wilson-Wood) and the assistant director (Sophie Compton) are currently a part of the YEP programme or have recently graduated. It’s great to see the product of YEP’s programme on the MainStage at the Everyman!
I would definitely recommend this moving but powerful show, I would rate it 5 stars!
CREATIVE CORNER:
This is a place for Keziah to share any of her creative ideas that are inspired by the show!
The girl without a voice:
Silence was all anyone heard when she tried to talk, or maybe they did hear her speak but chose not to listen, or maybe they did hear her and just didn't know what to say.
That's what Amelie liked to tell herself anyway, but what if they were ignoring her?
Why would they do something so cruel?
Was she too annoying?
Did they not like her?
Or was she overthinking it all?
She had so many questions but no answers, until a cold Saturday morning when she decided to look through her camera roll.
At first she thought it was a blip with the camera, or maybe she was just hidden, but as she continued to scroll she realized she couldn't be seen.
Now to most people this would panic them, but Amalie was relived as now she knew the real reason, it wasn't that she was annoying, or that they didn't like her, no, she was INVISIBLE.
The girl who was INVISIBLE, part 2 of the girl without a voice.
Invisible, Invisible? But how was this possible? How could she fix this? Why was she Invisible?
The girl still had so many questions with no answers, well that was until last night, after all everything happens in the night for some reason.
Amelie was fast asleep when she heard a light tap on her window, now most people would not open a window if they hear a strange creepy sound, but she did so.
When she opened the window no one was there, however there was a note, a note that said:
"You are the reason you are invisible, you have not been your true self."
At first Amelie was confused, but when she really thought about it she remembered all the times she lied about her interests, dressed in clothes she hated and never spoke up, just because she wanted to fit in.
Amelie realised to really be seen and heard she must be her true self no matter what.