Writer-performer Alex van Ric tells us about his play, Monster Made, which is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe. He acts in this two-hander with Astrid Gutscher.
“Monster Made is the story of two people who could not be further apart. Amanda Crowley is an unyielding lawyer who will not be intimidated by a man accused of murder. This man is Thomas Duncan, who committed a heinous massacre. He is guilty. Without a doubt, the case is lost. Nevertheless, Amanda wants the case. She does not want to win it, but rather to understand how someone can become such a monster and possibly set a development into motion that will finally change something. “
Where: The Annexe at Paradise in The Vault
When: 24-30 Aug
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/monster-made
What can you tell us about your show? What is it about and where did the idea come from?
My play Monster Made is the story of two people: Amanda Crowley and Thomas Duncan. Amanda is an unyielding young lawyer, but she’s not letting herself be intimidated by this man, Thomas Duncan, who is a mass murderer who committed a heinous racist massacre. This case is lost, but she wants it anyway. Not to win, but to understand how monsters are made. But although this play is set in a prison and in the context of a lawsuit, it actually never really is about the law case; it’s not a play about guilt. There is no question about that: Thomas Duncan is guilty. This play is a play about change! That people can change!
You see, I believe that monsters are not born; no baby is born a monster, no baby sees the light of day and wants to set the world on fire. So the question that challenged me was: what must have happened in a human life that this person ends up doing unspeakable things to other human beings? You know, I’m born German, and history poses that question, or if you want to put that responsibility onto me, to ask that uncomfortable question of why! Why could this happen, and why can this happen, and it seems to be happening again. I mean, just look around! The world is in turmoil. Elected yet self-appointed leaders are sowing chaos and despair. The rule of law is being eroded, and democratic institutions are being undermined. These tendencies that are developing in politics and in society, I find them very alarming.
I think there is a huge lack of empathy for other human beings and also a lack of empathy for oneself, and I’m not talking about self-indulgence or ego; I’m talking about self-worth and understanding one’s own path through life that led to the point where one is now. I’m talking about acknowledging the sensations along that way, the good ones, the bad ones, the ugly ones, the pain, the humiliation, the suffering, and to not suppress them, because they work on us inside, they nag, they tease us, they torment us and the more we keep them in the shadow, the more we feed them subconsciously, the more power they have over us.
For myself, I can say that I had so much anger in me for such a long time and this is actually how I first came in contact with the works of Alice Miller during my acting training in London when my acting coach Giles Foreman said to me that I should read the book The Drama of the Gifted Child to understand where that much of anger in me is coming from. It then took me more than another half a decade to return to the works of Alice Miller, but once I did, the idea for a play emerged. I envisioned this setting of the inmate and a lawyer,
I envisioned the characters, and funny enough I started to work on another play, which still isn’t finished yet, because somehow it didn’t develop further yet, but this initial first moment of Monster Made which is exactly the same as it is now in the final play, was part of that other play, and somehow these characters of Amanda and Thomas were that strong and kept on talking to me in my head and it grew further and further in my mind every day and than eventually I sat down and wrote it down and there we are now, having the UK premiere of Monster Made at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph?
The question of why concerns us all. It’s not just another racist massacre. Somewhere in the world, each of us is a foreigner, a person of a different faith, a member of a minority. It can happen to any of us. Anytime. Anywhere. We are all human beings. Monster Made is the weapon of thought, of sensations, and that of dialog with each other to come to an understanding of what makes us who we are and why! It’s the challenging quest for meaning and for change!
Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe? And do you have any moments you particularly remember?
I have to say that I’m super excited to participate in this year’s EdFringe. It’s my first time there; it’s my festival debut, and honestly, bringing your own show, that you wrote, that you perform, to THE FRINGE in Edinburgh, I mean what’s bigger than that for an independent theatre maker? It’s super exciting and in a weird way so scary as well. It feels a bit like having ‘you know what’ for the first time.
Right now I think I don’t really realize what’s happening and how big that is, and surely I imagine that experience to be over too fast as well! No, really, ever since I got into contact with the amazing team of Paradise Green, Emily, Naomi and Isla, where we will perform our show, it’s been a hell of a ride towards Edinburgh with so much excitement and joy and a thrill of anticipation. But don’t get me wrong, it’s a lot of hard work too, but it’s a really enjoyable process, and I won’t miss a second of it!
And to your second part of the question, because it’s my first time in Edinburgh, I cannot look back on any moments during the festival yet, but I particularly remember some moments of the journey towards Edinburgh that still stick with me. So one of them is the decision to go there! I remember I talked to my co-star Astrid Gutscher about me thinking about the possibility to maybe go to the Fringe, as vaguely as that, because bringing a show from Berlin to Edinburgh, honestly, it costs a little money, and I particularly remember the evening when I made up my mind I sent her a voice message: “We’re going to Edinburgh! We’re going to do this at any cost!”
And that was the beginning of the journey, from there on there was no turning back and it brings me immediately to the next moment I’m very grateful of and there my thanks go to the team of Paradise Green to whom I pitched the show, actually already in advance, because I didn’t know how it works, so then, once it opened, they sent me the official application link and they’ve been so kind and helpful with everything since than and that I really appreciate as a newcomer to the festival. And next to that, there are of course the intense rehearsals with my lovely colleague Astrid Gutscher, who’s that committed and supportive and crazy enough to hurl herself into that adventure, and without her, that play, my play, wouldn’t have made it to that point to be now on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe.
What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh?
To me, the world can be a very strange and functional place, and I’m looking forward the most to being amongst people who like the arts, who dare to be affected, to be moved, and who dare to dream! I’m looking forward to being amongst people from all kinds of countries, cultures and backgrounds, and all of that in this beautiful city of Edinburgh with that sensational architecture, with that history and flair to it; and I’m keen on meeting the locals and to connect with all that!
I like to be amongst theatre folk, and there I don’t distinguish between any kind of arts form, or maker or audience; I’m looking forward to that enriching diversity of people, to that specific spirit that connects them all, that transcends all kinds of barriers and differences, that makes us all who we actually are: human beings. Different but equal.
What’s next for the show?
Honestly, I don’t know. Right now the focus is completely on the Fringe, and what’s after that, I don’t know yet. It’s like when you finish school, you have a lot of dreams for your life. What happens, you don’t really know. You cannot know. Life will find its way. I hope the same is true for the play. What I can say is that I have dreams for the play, that I would like to take this play on tour through the UK, through Europe, overseas.
Unfortunately, the themes and topics in this play Monster Made are universal and worldwide spread; it’s about the human condition and about change. It’s about the question of why, which gives meaning to our lives, and I wish for that play to inspire as many people as possible to feel who they are, to envision who they want to be or who they don’t want to be, to ask questions about themselves, and to hopefully find a better way for a better together.