‘Being Human is beautiful’

At its heart, Too Human is about – well – being human. Directed by Chinese/Australian Sammy Jing, Too Human is a delightfully funny and touching play centering on a 14-year-old girl, Monty, who is the only human in a school full of half human-half animal people. This play leans into themes about conformity, identity and self-love.

The first act opens with Monty’s parents, a half-mermaid mother and half-minotaur father, giving a speech about their love which concludes as they introduce their daughter, Monty, to the audience. Monty, unlike her parents, does not have any half monster parts and is instead fully human – too human perhaps. Immediately, it’s shown that Monty absolutely despises being a full-fledged human and doesn’t accept herself. Her feelings are made worse when her platonic male best friend, Lewis – half sheep – has reached the time for puberty.

It’s explained right off the bat that Monty and Lewis are at the bottom of the social ladder in their school and their main goal is to reach the top and become cool. Their plan to do this is to impress the ‘king of the jungle’ at school, Harry. Harry is a half-lion and also Monty’s crush. However, Lewis has his eyes set on Harry’s right-hand man, Andrew – a half alligator.

Towards the end of act one, Monty’s dad reveals that there is a disco and a talent show at the end of the week. Monty – perhaps predictably – has the idea of becoming popular by going with Harry to the disco (by creating a fake identity) while also winning the talent show. Plenty of foreshadowing is done at this stage but the most obvious one is when Monty assures Lewis that she wouldn’t ditch her for anyone. That’s a lot to take in on the first act, and it’s only the plot. I haven’t even covered the various character dynamics and arcs.

From here, the story gets quite predictable – like one of those cheesy 90’s teenage movies you can’t stop watching. But the predictability does not detract from the enjoyability of the show, in fact, it enhances it. I found it hilarious every time Monty successfully charmed Harry when she was in her fake identity or when they broke up over some trivial teenage issue.

But this story is not really a romantic love story but a platonic love story between Monty and Lewis. Lewis helps Monty get through her identity crisis and Monty sticks by Lewis when she’s getting bullied. 

Sammy Jing does a brilliant job of weaving comedy and melancholy together. The entire play will make you laugh out loud and also deeply move you. This play also has plenty of subtext. Most noticeably, surrounding growing up mixed race and learning to accept who you are. One of my absolute favourite little bits of the play was the various times the cast interacted with the audience – whether that was through getting the audience to clap along or otherwise. 

Speaking of the cast, all of them acted wonderfully. A special mention must be made of the performance of  Rhiaan Marquezl, who played the main character  Monty. She embodied the whole 13-year-old angsty teen quite well and was a character the audience could empathise with. She reminded me of one of my favourite characters in media, Otis Milburn from the Netflix show Sex Education. In fact, the whole play is reminiscent of the show, with its skillful weaving together of comedy and sadness. 

Overall, this show is a must see for fans of theatre and even newcomers. It is delightfully funny and very touching, with a poignant through line:  Being Human is beautiful