The Most Humane Way to Kill A Lobster

by Duncan Macmillan

"You put it in the freezer, so when you transfer it to the boiling water it doesn't feel a thing. I suppose that this is how I've felt recently. I've been in some deep freeze and suddenly I can feel steam in my face, I'm falling headlong into scalding water."

It's 2005, the sun is shining and Loretta is planning to make her daughter's favourite meal. But when Sophie stops talking to her, children start vanishing, and rooms begin to cry, Loretta can't help feeling that something is up and that she might have something to do with it.

A play about one woman's journey back to her childhood, to stop her past flooding into the present.

Genres: Plays

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

This page is for the English playwright. For the Scottish art historian, see Duncan Macmillan.

Reviews

[Soph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second Duncan Macmillan play I have read and let me tell you, I bloody loved it!! The way he writes and the things he writes are just so honest and open and beautifully and cleverly written and it astonishes me how someone can write about themes like this with such truthfulness while not being cliché!

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

MacMillan's first play shows great promise; it's essentially a monologue about a middle aged woman coming to terms with her deflowering by an older man when she was just fourteen. In a way, it's a bit like David Harrower's 'Blackbird' in that respect, but has nowhere near the depth and passion of that superior work.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A google search about how to humanely kill lobsters returns an amplitude of tips, tricks, and debates on whether the creature feels pain. These methods provide an apt metaphor in this play that is *just about* a monologue from a woman who’s coming to grips with much in her life after a long, slow boil of anger and denial. Would love to see a live performance of this one.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a tough read, without spoiling anything this play is about abuse, something I didn't know when I picked it up but I feel compelled to mention as it could be triggering for some readers. Written as a monologue, this play has a great flow of thoughts, the text is very conversational and natural. It's hard to rate, it's not a pleasant play but it's not supposed to be, I gather it's supposed to evoke feeling of hopelessness and upset that this is a horrifying reality in our world. The ending wasn't quite the right note in my view but I won't mention why due to spoilers.