"Monkey," a play from the 1970s, was recently performed by Grin and Tonic. Writer/director, Bryan Nason manipulated themes and issues, such as self-discovery, family, good against evil, and acceptance. The performance used and demonstrated many elements of drama as well as roles, relationships, space, place, movement, and mood. "Monkey" empowered these elements to create dramatic meaning that accelerated issues and themes.
             The themes that are evident in "Monkey" were relevant and gave meaning to the production. Self-discovery was a theme used throughout the play, especially with the four main characters. Monkey was becoming a menace because all he ever wanted to do was fight and he didn't really care what the consequences were, as long as he was fighting. This was one of the problems that erupted an argument among the group, which broke them up. While they were separated, they all learned that they need each other because they are not whole without each other. The roles in "Monkey" were developed very well because they all had purpose and status. The purpose of all the characters was made clear; Monkey's purpose was to get back into heaven. All of the roles in the play were characterized well especially Tripitaka who had the highest status as he had control over Monkey with the ring around Monkey's head.
             Family is another major theme in the play because when the group became separated they realized who their real family is, and they are ones you love. Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy, and Tripitaka had become very emotionally attached to each other throughout their journey without realizing it. The relationships were expressed extremely well because we could immediately identify the type of relationships between the characters, such as the relationship between Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy, it became clear that they had become friends by the end of the play. We also knew what the characters were doing the whole time because of the great relations...