HOLDING ON TIGHTLY
A monologue
from THE VISITOR IN THE DOORWAY
By Tara Meddaugh
About the play, THE VISITOR IN THE DOORWAY:
Clare has experienced more deep loss than anyone should have to go through, and she knows Grief all too well. After an unimaginable death in her family, Clare runs off to her family cabin in the woods, isolating herself from everyone who might reach out to her. The only visitor she has is the lingering, hovering, persistent, annoying Being outside her cabin who just. won’t. leave: Grief himself, personified. Clare allows him one foot in her doorway, and he works hard to convince her to let him all the way in. The play is a dark comedy, as Grief struggles to do his job; and it’s a drama, as Clare begins to process her pain and loss. The humor and gravity are a necessary team—to relieve and relax us, and then to hit us with the poignancy of tragic reality, as well.
Click here for complete play, THE VISITOR IN THE DOORWAY.
About the monologue, Holding on Tightly:
Personified Grief has been allowed one foot in Clare’s family cabin doorway, but she is not happy he’s there. Grief has been trying to get Clare to let him inside and asks her if she is ready to tell him what happened. She says this recent tragedy has broken her, but in the monologue, she finally opens up enough to tell him, in her own words, about the pain of experiencing multiple unimaginable losses. She wonders how the .01% can keep happening, and if horrible luck becomes more common the more you experience it. (This monologue has one small bit of dialogue from another character omitted, but it does not affect the monologue.)
DETAILS:
Genre: Dramatic
Running time: Approximately 1.5-2 minutes (depending on performance)
Cast: Female
Age range: 20s-30s
Setting: A cabin in the woods
Time period: contemporary
EXCERPT
CLARE
He’s…he was…so little…and… he was part of me. Half me. Half Paul. So…it’s like half of me has died and… Paul has died all over again.
(pause)
And…it’s so horribly ironic because…man, Grief. I held onto him so tightly! I would cross the street with him and, literally, Grief, I would literally hold onto his four-year-old fingers so tightly they would be white when we got to the other side. I was that mom people made fun of because I had a leash on my kid in the park. And I get it. To them, it’s like, what are the chances that anything is going to happen, right? But to me… I know. I know that—END OF EXCERPT
Click below for the complete digital copy of the monologue, HOLDING TIGHTLY.
To learn more about the character, Clare, and for the complete play, THE VISITOR IN THE DOORWAY:, click below: