Monica: This Play Is Not About Monica Lewinsky

• Claire Sawers
• 23 August 2019

The notorious intern scandal – or not

Written by Dianne Nora, directed by and starring Hannah Tova Wolff, this smart, lo-tech, crowdfunded play from not for profit theatre company Via Brooklyn looks at modern relationships through a series of vignettes about a woman named Monica. It may or may not be a look at Miss Lewinsky (subject of the upcoming third season of American Crime Story: Impeachment) and what happened to her after the scandal with the then President Clinton. Or it may just be about people you know, how their love lives work and what's happening to gender politics in the post-Monica, post #MeToo world.

We meet a fame-hungry author considering boosting his career with a sex tape, a married man having a sloppy meltdown after being jilted by his mistress and a woman freaking out about labelling herself as bisexual for the first time, amongst others. It's a nosy, emotionally intelligent peek beneath the sheets or into a couple therapy session, cross-examining some of the double standards around sex. Like Esther Perel's relationship podcast adapted for an off-Broadway show or several McSweeney's short stories spliced together, the cast of five cover a lot of dysfunctional ground with only minimal costume changes and token props to tell Monica's many stories.

Greenside @ Infirmary Street, run ended.