Four years on from his acclaimed grime musical The Making Of A Monster, former Children’s Laureate for Wales Connor Allen brings its sequel, Forgiveness Of A Monster, to the stage. Hari Berrow talks to the Newport performer, musician and writer about the show.
Set more than 10 years after its predecessor, Forgiveness Of A Monster covers Connor Allen’s journey to reconnecting with his father and learning to accept the complexities of their relationship. “It is another rap musical, but there’s more of a maturity now, I think,’’ Allen says.
“In The Making Of A Monster, you know, it was about that teenage angst of being in school and we got a rap battle going on our hands. Whereas now it’s like, how can I use that energy and that bravado of grime and marry it with therapy? You’ve got the vulnerability of therapy, but the bravado of grime, and there’s something really interesting in the dichotomy of the two.”
Sequels are very unusual on the Welsh stage, but Allen planned the Monster series to be a trilogy. “I always had this idea of a three-part story. The Making Of A Monster was about my mum, and that relationship when I was a teenager. The second part was always going to be about my father in some complicated way. It just so happened that I hit a point in my life where we finally sat down and hashed it out and I gave him forgiveness.
“I couldn’t have hit that, like, six years ago, because I was still that angry kid, you know? Whereas now, and [after] lots of therapy and lots of living life, it got me to that place where I could finally sit down and have empathy for him. So the complete story is different. If I was planning out this trilogy 10 years ago, it would be a very different compared to me planning it out now.”
Allen – who held the role of Children’s Laureate Wales when The Making Of A Monster was first staged in 2022 – hopes that the work will spark conversations about complicated emotions among young men, but doesn’t want to be put on a pedestal. “Schools and teachers, especially, are looking for those positive male role models to showcase to young men – like, you know, ‘this is what you can be’ or ‘these are the people you can look up to’ or take guidance from. As opposed to the manosphere, the Andrew Tates of the world.
“I’m still human, you know? I make mistakes; we’re multifaceted. And I think [Forgiveness Of A Monster] is showcasing that to young men, and being, like, it’s OK to be happy, it’s OK to be sad, to be angry, cheeky. These things are human and we should feel these things.”
Allen hopes that this new show, more than anything, will inspire empathy in audiences. “I can share my story, and you can take away from that what you will. I can give you my honesty and be like, ‘It’s difficult being a young man today. I didn’t have all this social media when I was young and it was hard for me, so it must be hard for you.’ But at the same time, it’s a collective approach. It’s going to take a village, not one person, to change things.
“All I’m saying is like, ‘come on, come with me, walk a mile in my shoes. You’ll understand this next chapter of my story, and hopefully it’ll resonate with you.’ I feel like empathy is what we need right now in the world. We have so much noise – so much war and so much, just, negativity – going on, and we need empathy. Empathise with the road someone’s travelling and what they’re going through, and hopefully we can just be kinder.”
Forgiveness Of A Monster, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, Fri 8-Sat 23 May.
Tickets: £7-£24. Info: here
words HARI BERROW
