Saturday, December 5, 2020

ONE OF A KIND (The Covid-19 Monologues #1/Elysium TC)****


By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4iugAps6Hs

Available until: Unknown

Diane is a reporter. She’s not currently working as a reporter because she’s been furloughed, but she plans on going back to it. For now, she’s taken on a completely new role. She’s volunteering in a care home, looking after elderly residents. Her job requires her to live in and she’s sharing with three other carers. The job affects her physically and emotionally. Especially as there’s one resident she knows very well.

I found this monologue, written by Rachael Halliwell, a little bit confusing at the start. It took me a while to work out exactly what was going on. It was probably me being slow, but if anyone finds themselves feeling the same way, stick with it. It does become clear. It’s written in quite a natural way – we often don’t start from the beginning when we’re trying to talk about something difficult and it can take us a while to get to the main point and to explain everything properly. Sometimes you have to be a bit patient and let people tell the story in their own way – and it makes sense to me that sometimes we need to do that with fictional characters too.

It is actually written very well. It’s a very moving story about how lives can change in difficult times. Diane is not some generic person – she is a real human being with her own personality and idiosyncrasies, even if she is understandably weighed down by stress and exhaustion.

Sarah Boulter is very likeable and sincere as Diane. I really like the way her personality is brought across without losing the feeling of exhaustion. Director Jake Murray has set the monologue up in Diane’s car, which is a really good neutral venue as it makes you curious about where she’s going and it also meant Sarah didn’t have to make her home look like a care home. It’s a really well put-together monologue and I really liked it.

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