‘She Kills Monsters’ integrates fantasy using D&D

She Kills Monsters is a story about a sibling relationship after the death of one of the sisters. Written by Qui Nguyen and directed by Mieko Ouchi, the production revolves around Agnes and Tilly Evans, two sisters who couldn’t be more different.

After Tilly dies, Agnes embarks on an adventure to truly understand her sister with all that’s left of her: a game she wrote for the mystical world of Dungeons & Dragons. Agnes encounters many characters within her sister’s words, growing to understand what her sister went through via topics of bullying and queerness and what she wasn’t able to help with, ultimately reaching closure. 

Right from the start, the audience is transported into a storytelling adventure through the use of spotlights and shadows to signify the roles of the characters. It is evident just from the first few scenes how much work went into the performance’s set design, objects brought into the stage according to the scene,  and especially the creatures portrayed in the Dungeons & Dragons world. It exceeded expectations. 

I was lucky enough to get an interview with Shaughnessy O’Brien, who plays Agnes, and Kijo Gatama, who plays Tilly, before watching the performance. They emphasized how important the production team was for all the props, costumes, music, lighting — everything that made the performance a performance apart from the acting. While watching the performance, it was evident how the props had an effect on us as the viewers, deciding how the scene works accordingly and visualizing what the playwright was imagining.

“One thing you learn is to think outside of yourself… acknowledging how we’re making it work, and how incredibly talented everybody is,” Gatama commented.

When talking to O’Brien and Gatama, I was already excited to see the play; it was visible in the way they described their characters that they were invested in their roles, truly showing what this performance was about, and to simply bring art to the world at a difficult time. 

“[Agnes’s] journey of learning something totally new and uncovering different aspects of herself in this play…every character that I play I find something new about myself,” said O’Brien. 

“I just wanted to kick some ass,” adds Gatama. “But [I] also [wanted to be] a character that has so much vulnerability.”

They also emphasized how active they were on stage and during rehearsals due to the immense amount of stage combat they had to do. The production brought in Thomas Usher, a stage fight choreographer who aided in developing fight scenes within the performance, something O’Brien and Gatama both said was an incredible experience and one of the best parts of the show. 

Knowing how much work had been put into the fights helped me appreciate them throughout the performance, even during emotionally heavy scenes.

Yet, they also managed to demonstrate the very comedic aspect of the story. There were moments in which the dialogue was interpreted very differently by one character just because of the way sentences were phrased and the way movements were done. The audience’s laughter was loud and clear to how much they enjoyed these moments of sarcasm and confusion between characters. Each actor was visibly comfortable on stage and fulfilled their roles perfectly.

During the interview, O’Brien and Gatama mentioned how difficult the effects of COVID-19 were on the performance. The showings are all performed in masks for the audience and their safety, but it did cause the cast to think more about everything they would do on stage. The costume designers did a wonderful job because while watching the show there were very limited moments where I noticed the masks, as everything happening and the outfits being worn were the central focus for each audience member. O’Brien and Gatama also emphasized how grateful they were to have this performance working with their full class, even showing excitement to hear that one show had been sold out.

I loved the little details incorporated into the show. The extensive facial expressions, the lights reflecting off Tilly’s sword making the character even more important and powerful, the movement across the stage when in discourse, the in-between scenes where in-play janitors would mop dead creatures from the floor, and of course the stage fighting and the usage of the backdrop to make sounds or clashing and swords clattering — everything just worked perfectly together in the portrayed mystical world. 

All the music used was 90s hip-hop. One scene I particularly liked was where they used “Waterfalls” by TLC in an incredible fight scene; it was truly something I wouldn’t expect. This play has a lot of plot twists throughout the performance, suitable for all audiences. 

She Kills Monsters is available for viewing from February 4 to 12, with all evening shows starting at 7:30 p.m. with one matinee show on the 10 at 12:30 p.m.. You can buy tickets online.