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Plays One
This is the first collection from critically acclaimed playwright Duncan Macmillan, containing the plays Monster, Lungs, Every Brilliant Thing, 2071, and People, Places and Things.
472 pages, Paperback
Published September 27, 2016
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About the author
Duncan Macmillan
46 books69 followersThis page is for the English playwright. For the Scottish art historian, see Duncan Macmillan.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 4, 2022
impressive. liked all of them - lungs most (5 stars), maybe 4-5 stars for monster & people places and things (which is fantastic but really long) - 4 stars for every brilliant thing (for text - but sure it would be impressive as a perfomance) - and 2071 (important, but could maybe be more compelling). overall a great collection for getting to know duncan macmillan‘s work - highly recommended.
February 25, 2021
Monster - 5 stars. A brilliant play that counterpoises socially acceptable forms of selective empathy with clinical psychopathy which is partly a product of its environment.
Lungs - 4 stars. This is a great two-hander. It reminds me of Mike Bartlett's Cock in terms of style. I love the broken rhythm and Macmillan pulls a lot of drama from these two characters somewhat reluctantly choosing to procreate in the face of a overpopulation.
2077 - This is an important lecture on a crucial issue, but not really a piece of theatre. It's a talk, perhaps slightly more personal than watching a documentary. Because of this, I'm not really going to rate it.
Every Brilliant Thing - 3 stars. This is written as a piece where the audience can interact, much like James Graham's The Man, where the protagonist is having vivid memories triggered by reading his tax returns. These kind of plays always feel a little gimmicky to me. Nevertheless, it has more drama and interaction than a monologue and would perhaps have been more interesting live.
People, Places, Things - 5 stars. What a brilliant play. We have the broken rhythm of Monster and Lungs with another solid plot. This time, though, Macmillan tackles addiction—and does so with panache. The story is insightful, brutally honest and hopeful.
Lungs - 4 stars. This is a great two-hander. It reminds me of Mike Bartlett's Cock in terms of style. I love the broken rhythm and Macmillan pulls a lot of drama from these two characters somewhat reluctantly choosing to procreate in the face of a overpopulation.
2077 - This is an important lecture on a crucial issue, but not really a piece of theatre. It's a talk, perhaps slightly more personal than watching a documentary. Because of this, I'm not really going to rate it.
Every Brilliant Thing - 3 stars. This is written as a piece where the audience can interact, much like James Graham's The Man, where the protagonist is having vivid memories triggered by reading his tax returns. These kind of plays always feel a little gimmicky to me. Nevertheless, it has more drama and interaction than a monologue and would perhaps have been more interesting live.
People, Places, Things - 5 stars. What a brilliant play. We have the broken rhythm of Monster and Lungs with another solid plot. This time, though, Macmillan tackles addiction—and does so with panache. The story is insightful, brutally honest and hopeful.
March 2, 2021
Fantastic collection of modern plays :)
I did skip 2071 when about halfway through however! A TED talk of sorts, brilliantly researched climate change essay, but my poor head and soul my God—hey all you IPCC scientists and so on, PLEASE get back to me when you've worked out what I'm supposed to do about this? Until then I will keep working on myself, where there remains enormous scope for improvement but generates tangible results. Cheers :)
I did skip 2071 when about halfway through however! A TED talk of sorts, brilliantly researched climate change essay, but my poor head and soul my God—hey all you IPCC scientists and so on, PLEASE get back to me when you've worked out what I'm supposed to do about this? Until then I will keep working on myself, where there remains enormous scope for improvement but generates tangible results. Cheers :)
November 17, 2020
Really was not my thing at all. I read the first two plays (Monster and Lungs) but couldn't make myself read the other three.
I found them very stark and the endings were flat. Now I'm no stranger to sad or violent plays - most of the other plays I've read are tragedies or Irish plays which nearly always involve death regardless of the genre, but these just felt pointless to me.
Lungs didn't seem to go anywhere and the couple didn't appear to care for one another at all yet spent their whole lives hanging around after each other anyway.
Monster started looking up but then had an incredibly bleak ending. It wasn't even sad, just disappointing. Nothing changed. I couldn't see the purpose of either of them.
Maybe that's what some people enjoy reading about but it wasn't for me. I thought it was awful.
I found them very stark and the endings were flat. Now I'm no stranger to sad or violent plays - most of the other plays I've read are tragedies or Irish plays which nearly always involve death regardless of the genre, but these just felt pointless to me.
Lungs didn't seem to go anywhere and the couple didn't appear to care for one another at all yet spent their whole lives hanging around after each other anyway.
Monster started looking up but then had an incredibly bleak ending. It wasn't even sad, just disappointing. Nothing changed. I couldn't see the purpose of either of them.
Maybe that's what some people enjoy reading about but it wasn't for me. I thought it was awful.
May 26, 2017
My new bible for how theatre should be.
April 4, 2020
5 out of 5, every single play.
November 3, 2016
This is collection is truly something special.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews