Review: Dear Young Monster, Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, Sheffield

When a person realises they have been assigned the wrong gender at birth, what do they do? Pete MacHale attended therapy aged 17 and tried to explain it felt like being kept in a coffin that doesn’t fit your body. The therapist offered no solutions, and the waiting for medical help was interminable. Describing the moment when testosterone injections were finally agreed, MacHale is joyful, explaining it’s like “they have decided you can live”.

In Dear Young Monster MacHale describes his own trans journey with honesty and wit. He is on the stage alone with very few props and yet easily commands the complete attention of the audience for around 70 minutes. The atmosphere in the intimate Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse is electric. MacHale very quickly manages to draw the audience into his personal journey, and they are clearly behind him as he speaks directly, holding nothing back. He candidly invites them to share how being trans has affected him to the point that they can truly identify with his experience. MacHale’s use of self-deprecating humour is especially effective in engaging the audience, and they laugh with him as he describes staring in the mirror for an hour searching for masculine traits just after his first testosterone injection.

His performance is dynamic, making full use of the stage and becoming various characters in his life – his Mum, his friends, his neighbours – with a real skill for storytelling, made all the more compelling by the fact that he is sharing his own personal experiences.

MacHale talks about watching horror films with his best friend Mia. She won’t watch the old black and white ones, so he watches Frankenstein (the Boris Karloff version) on his own and has an epiphany. He relates to the monster being seen as an outsider, being different and suffering cruelty from the mob who don’t understand him. An incident at a university party reinforces this further. The poignancy of the experience and the authentic, engaging way MacHale relates it is powerful and emotional. I was totally absorbed by his story and very moved.

Clips from the Frankenstein film are used very effectively to illustrate his position. In one notable excerpt, the monster comes across a little girl who isn’t afraid of him. In MacHale’s case, a neighbour’s little girl has seen him in various stages of his transition and is confused. Her mother had previously ordered her indoors when she saw MacHale as if he were a monster. But the child subsequently asks if he is a boy now, and on being told he is, replies she isn’t afraid of boys. That was quite a powerful moment, encapsulating the message of the piece.

In the end, while MacHale clearly wants people to understand and accept that a trans person is not someone to hate or fear, he also wants to be accepted for what he is. He doesn’t want to be a monster anymore, just a good man, a good friend, someone to be proud of who they are. And ultimately, that’s surely the purpose of Dear Young Monster – understanding and acceptance.

Created & Performed by Pete MacHale
Directed by Sammy J Glover
Produced by Jess Donn
Design by Cara Evans
Lighting Design by Hugo Dodsworth
Composition & Sound Design by Roly Botha
Video Designed by Dee Dixon
Movement directed by Loe D’Arcy

Dear Young Monster plays at Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, Sheffield Theatres
until Saturday 6 September.