Sex and shaming, the personal and the political – Monica: This Play Is Not About Monica Lewinsky tackles issues that shape, and all too often distort, the lives of women.
Dianne Nora’s play, which comes to the Fringe from the USA on its world premiere tour, explores infamy and intimacy and how we reckon with the people we were and the experiences we had in the past.
Taking place between 1990 and the present day the drama unfolds through a series of conversations and encounters between a woman called (for the sake of argument) Monica and various imagined lovers.
It focuses on how a woman who has endured infamy reclaims her life and what we are truly discussing when we talk about The Other Woman.
Director, Hannah Tova Wolff, says: “This is a play that packs a punch – it speaks directly to so many critical issues about sex, relationships and shaming.
“It also addresses subjects like the different treatment meted out to men and women caught up in a sexual scandal and asks ‘how do the personal and political feed off each other?’”
“Monica is a universal character with traumas from the past that impact on her current relationships.
“She’s having to navigate a world in which the lines between private, the intimate and the political are blurred. In the social media age these concerns are becoming ever-more urgent and affect the lives of growing numbers of women.”
Monica: This Play Is Not About Monica Lewinsky gives us a chance to ponder just when it all went wrong.
First review night is 5 August. The venue is the Greenside at Infirmary Street – Forest Theatre (Venue 236) at 10pm.
Monica: This Play Is Not About Monica Lewinsky will be run between Aug 2-10, 12-17 at ticket prices from £8 to £10 and is for ages 14+ (scenes of a sexual nature, strong language)
