Meet Me In The Monologue, Episode 116, Guest: Emma Bentley

Welcome to this episode of Meet Me in the Monologue, a podcast series exploring the intersection of writers and actors, process and performance, insight and inspiration, hosted by writer Dennis Bush, with co-hosts Kelsey Pietropaolo and Meggy Lykins.

Our guest for this episode is writer/performer Emma Bentley, joining us from London, as we focus on a section of her play, Supermodel in the Caff.

We encourage you to support the work of our guests. 

Meet Me in the Monologue is edited and mixed by Martin W. Scott, who also serves as our announcer. 

*This episode contains mature language.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Meet Me in the Monologue. A podcast series that explores the intersection of writers and actors, process and performance, inspiration and insight. Hosted by writer Dennis Bush with Kelsey Pietropollo and Meggie Likens.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Welcome to this episode of Meet Me in the Monologue. Joining me and my co-hosts, Kelsey Pietro Paulo and Meggie Likens today is writer-performer Emma Bentley coming to us from London. Emma, you are both writer and performer and many other things. Meet Me in the Monologue is home to the multi-hyphenate, so we're thrilled to welcome you in all of your skill sets. If you could just give us some background on the piece, set it up with what we need to know before we dive in, and then when you're ready to perform, we can uh have you dive in that way.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Sure. So this is an extract from my third solo show, um, which is called The Supermodel in the Calf. Um, calf is spelled C-A-F-F. It's referring to like a greasy spoon, basically. Um, it's probably your equivalent of a diner. So it's white tea in a mug with the milk sloshed in, it's fry up, it's omelet and a little bit of salad, radio on, loads of chat, loud, uh, a bit brash, but like lots of humour and just what you need on a on a Saturday morning or anytime you feel like it, really. This show is about four different women who find themselves in this calf. And the idea is that they're all played by the same actor. And the woman that we're about to meet is called Janie, and she's in her 40s, and she's from London. She is in the calf, and she's about to go and beg for money. She's experiencing homelessness, and she's been homeless on and off for about seven years. And yeah, she's a firecracker. She's on one of these days where kind of she just doesn't give a shit anymore. And so she's kind of getting a bit silly with her interactions with people, and yeah, she's about to go and approach a couple people sat down having their breakfast.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Alright. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

I go into this calf because it's the only one on the street that doesn't throw me out the minute I get through the door. I'm grateful because some of their customers seem like nice people. And the food must be good because everyone seems in a good enough mood to give me a few quid. I got 20 quid from a builder once. I'm a bit desperate because if I don't find a tennis sharpish, I'm gonna have to sleep rough. And I ain't done that for about a month. So I step into the calf and I ignore the old lady in the corner who I know's got it in for me, and I head straight for this girl. She looks like she works for a charity or she's a teacher or something, and she looks well worried. And worry people usually chuck me a few quid. They don't want to add to their worries, do they? I love. You got any change? She looks even more worried. She looks like she's gonna cry. I've opened up a whole can of worms here. Fucking hell. I know this sounds bad, but it actually pisses me off when people act all funny with me. It's like, mate, I'm the one out on the street. What have you got to be upset about? After a bit of back and forth, I try and cheer her up, tell her she looks pretty. She doesn't. She looks knackered. Nice air though. I think she's gay, isn't it? But then she starts saying, No, I'm not pretty. I'm not. I'm really not pretty. Fucking hell, I can't win here. Next to her is this other girl. This girl I recognise. For a minute, I think she won't have any money on her. She looks pretty rough. And then I realised she's actually like loaded. Like this woman is definitely minted. Because I noticed all her jewellery looks really solid, and she's got this well-nice pair of leather boots on. She looks rough because she's so rich she don't give a shit, but it's all in the small details. I told you I'm a classy lady. I know she won't have any cash on her though. Really rich people never do. They don't need cash, they're people carry cash. She's with a friend, but she smells of expensive perfume. So I'm guessing it's the same for her. They only carry cash if they're drug addicts and boom! That's it! That's the one! I do know her. I knew her, like six years ago used to get fucked up with her own solo was fucking this guy. He was the self-fit guy, he was a dealer. Fuck, that was a bad year. 2019 was a bad year. It was like the pie that never stopped. It was fucked up.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I love that, thank you so much. So, what inspired this piece?

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Well, I was in a calf and a and a supermodel walked in. So, yeah, I was in West London, which is like a very, a very affluent area of London. And I have to admit, I wasn't actually in a calf calf. I was in more of a cafe, it was a bit of a like in-betweeney place, but they had matcha, so it definitely wasn't a calf. And a really, really famous British supermodel walked in. I won't say who it is because I just feel like that kind of opens up a whole can of worms. Yeah, and I just my mind just went to all of this, like, what's she doing here? Why would she be here? Um, what's she gonna eat? Is she even gonna eat food? She's talking out loud to her friend, it's like really obvious it's her. Just what's she doing here, basically? So I wrote uh a monologue from from my perspective. But as with most of my work, I kind of said it's not autobiographical, it just happens to be something that happened to me. But the character, she's not really anything like me, but of course she was pretty much me. And that's the that's the first character that we meet in the play, um, who's called Nessa. Yeah, and I did that a little scratch night. I don't know, do you have do you call it scratch nights in America?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Or so you mean like a reading?

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Um, yeah, kind of, but it's like we have these things in usually pub theatres where five to ten new writers are invited to present some new work. But it's not usually book in hand, it's usually like people do stage scenes from something they're working on, but obviously it's not it's not like mega well rehearsed. Yeah, so we call them scratch nights. I did that monologue at this scratch, and just in the bar afterwards, people were saying, I want to see all the other people in the calf. That's where it began, really.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

So as I was reading the the whole play, and thank you for sending the the whole play. Um, I just I kept thinking the world is passing through this calf. You know, we're seeing this microcosm of society. But the cool thing for me was the way that you were catching all the details that I think most people miss. You know, the people we don't see, and then the people that we do notice, you were noticing the things about them that we don't notice. So it was like this sociological exploration in addition to a really interesting and cool piece of theater. Was it your intent to reveal society in that way, or does that just come as the result of uh the creative artistry?

SPEAKER_02 8:41

I think you made me just sound really clever. So yes, all of those things you are thanks. No, I think I guess I can just can tell you like what was going through my head when I wrote it. As I said, like the first one was a splurge that was something that literally was going through my head with a few over time, like the character has changed a bit from me, and I've added different things, embellishments. And then as I just went through and writing the other characters, so you've got Janie, who you just heard from, and then you've got Ellen, who's the waitress in the CAF, and then you've got Beyer, who is the supermodel in the situation. So I'm kind of like got a foot in the door in all of these worlds because I've I have been working in hospitality for 15 years. I have also volunteered in hostels and worked with people who are experiencing homelessness. I've also lived in poverty myself for quite a while now, and I'm also an actor, so I also have experienced the other side of it of like you know being on set and feeling fancy. So yeah, I guess choosing choosing what I was gonna write about in each of their situations, it was just what excited me the most. And I guess I wanted this kind of queer theme running through, so that's kind of why we have the supermodel. Basically, the supermodel is like coming out, really coming out in their 30s. Yeah, I think I'm just interested in what's going on in people's heads, especially in the setting of a calf. It's somewhere that can be really homely, and it's also somewhere that you can find yourself feeling a little awkward, maybe if you're on your own. Yeah, I think it kind of sets up a lot of interesting situations.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

How did it land with audiences? You did a run at the cockpit, correct?

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Yeah, so the cockpit was actually sort of the end of a year of doing things. So in October, we did five nights at the Hope Theatre, which is a pub theatre in Islington, and then we did two nights at the cockpit, which is it's a much bigger space. It's received really well. It's a fun night out. It's quite when we did it at the Hope as well. It was like really tiny space. It was pretty hot and sweaty in there. I think that kind of like really bought us all together. I it's funny because I I did find it very exposing doing the show. But then people always sort of like tend to pick out things that you you don't expect. Because obviously, like, you know, hundreds of people have got way more different different opinions than than you do on your own work, and you're kind of like holding these worries about certain things, but they always find so much more within it.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

So this is your third solo piece you mentioned. I I love the title of the other two. I think that you are um a genius at titles to she or not to she and what goes on in front of closed doors.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Ah I'm afraid I actually I I cannot take credit for those titles. I wish, I wish I could, but I I just have very good people around me that yeah, I can literally the remember the moment when my mate Matt came up with he just goes, To she or not to she? Yeah, and that was what it what it became.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Shout out to Matt.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:36

So speaking speaking of Matt, do you have a collabor since you're doing when you're doing all this solo work, is there somebody that um a director you like to work with or a friend who you sort of collaborate with to work on things besides you know at the like showing it at these scratch like scratch night and then getting feedback? Is there like a person you work with?

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Uh it's been different people every time. So yeah, on this show I worked with a director called Moses Gale, and yeah, we met we met doing an outdoor theatre kids show, which essentially trauma bonded us. And and there was born supermodel. But yeah, they come from the Isle of Wight, which is a very small island just at the south of of England near Portsmouth. There's an amazing fringe festival on there called Vent in a Fringe, and they wanted to take something to Vent a Fringe and had seen a recording of Tashi or Not Tishe and said, you know, have you got any have you got any ideas kicking about? And this was after the scratch night of of the first version of Supermodel. So I said, Yes, I have, and then that's that's where we started off. And other times, yeah, I worked with a really, really good mate called um Holly Robinson on my first show, To She or Not To She, who is now gone off to do incredible things as a writer. Yeah, they're represented by Casarotto Ramsey, and they just wrote The Secret Garden that was on at Regents Park open air last year. And then also my second one, I work with a writer called Callum Finlay, who's an actor and a brilliant writer, doing really cool stuff as well. So, yeah, there's been lots of amazing collaborations along the way.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

So is being drawn to solo work a way of creating material for yourself to perform, or do you just feel a connection to telling a story as a solo performer and writing in a way that facilitates that?

SPEAKER_02 14:57

I think it's a bit of both. To she or not to she was kind of born out of my research paper at drama school. I went to Lipper, uh, the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, and despite it being like a very vocational, up on your feet course, we did have to write like a final paper, which obviously we all hated doing, but actually I did get really into mine, and mine was basically about women playing men in Shakespeare. This was peak sort of Philadelphia at the Donmar and the Globe, only just starting to do this, like you know, it was still really the whole gender swapping thing was so new at this stage. So, yeah, I was really interested in it and wrote a paper, collaborated with a company called Smooth Face Gents, who were also like a leading all-female Shakespeare company. Also, it's really about that year 2014, because there was so much going on, it was it was like fleabag the show had really only just come out as well, and there was so there's this massive like solo show revolution, evolution going on in in fringe theatre. And I'd literally only just graduated, so I guess it was it wasn't even as if I'd like been you know waiting around for work for a couple years. I was just like, I want to make a solo show, I think that sounds wicked, and I had this idea that I knew would really work because I could play a version of myself who wanted to play Shakespeare's men and then also play all the men. So kind of like do the form of the play was parallel to what I was trying to say within the play. So yeah, I guess I was just interested in creating my own work and not so concerned with it leading me to other work. But obviously, like as it's weird, like as the years have gone on, I have sort of always had in my head that that making my own work would open doors and would kind of get me seen in other ways. But I have to say, I have not actually found that at all. So it literally does just have to be about I've got a story that I want to tell, and I'm willing to go through all of the like blood, sweat, and tears in order to do that, and that has to just be enough without it kind of furthering your your acting or even writing career in any way. Like obviously, I have everything written down for um fundraising and applying for schemes and stuff, but um yeah, I don't know how you feel in America. I I think people are just far too busy these days to be able to like if you're if you're trying to network upwards instead of sideways, I think that yeah, people are just way too busy to be able to come and take notice of your work. I think if you can get it recorded, amazing, because they might be able to watch a little reel or even yeah, 15 minutes of it when they find the time. But yeah, sadly it's not like make your own work and people will always come and check it out.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Right. I think that same unfortunate situation is is present here in the States.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

So so this piece, the the supermodel and the calf, I love your directions to uh future performers and companies that might want to produce it. Um you you're very specific about the expectation and the world that it exists in. Um, but uh it's also really accessible the way you describe it and the way you frame it for a theater company with four great women, for example, who might be looking for a piece that could showcase them for women of a different age. You know, I could see like the equivalent here in the States, a community theater would just, you know, eat this up because you've got these four great, interesting, unique women characters, and so often material has you know strong male roles, and women are secondary and ancillary. So do you see the the solo work finding its way into theater companies and um groups that could perform it?

SPEAKER_02 19:35

I would love that. That would be my my dream, yeah. I'm I'm not a published playwright, so I guess it's something yet. Yes, you are right, Dennis. Thank you for adding that. Um yeah, I really hope this is the year of me thinking a little bit bigger like that. Yeah, I think things are things are really tricky right now, and I guess it's it just feels like you kind of do something, and it's just in this small bubble, and then it ends, and that's it. That is not my hope. Yeah, my hope is always that like things will get picked up and people want to perform it, and yeah, I would be absolutely thrilled. I mean, I was thrilled to hear from you, to be honest, and um yeah, still I still can't get my head around how how you actually like found me on the internet.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

So well, the bubble that you're talking about being small, I saw a piece about your play at the cockpit, and I thought, ooh, I love the titles. What is what this is about, and so did some research and uh saw some of your uh videos and thought, I love how engaged this woman is with the world, and I love how that engagement with the world intensifies and enhances her engagement with her art. I would love to have lunch with her, which is you know, usually when I see somebody or meet somebody, I think, oh, I want to have lunch with her. And I thought, I well, she's a little far for a lunch date. But but hey, also I would love Megan Kells to meet her. Let's let's see if she would uh come on meet me in the monologue. And so I reached out, and here you are. So bubbles that we initially think are small might be bigger than we initially anticipated.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Yeah, yeah. I I was lucky enough to work with a coach last year, and she always says a lot. You never know who is talking about you in another room. And yeah, I mean, us Brits, as you know, are awful about being way too humble and just doing ourselves down all the time. Oh no, no, no, no. So I think yeah, I think that is really tricky. But once you I think if you just occasionally just keep reminding yourself that, yeah, it makes the future feel a lot more exciting. Cause I guess you kind of then can imagine opportunities coming your way, which which is what you want if you're gonna have a career.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

And we want to encourage all of our listeners in the UK, and we have quite a few, to seek out Emma's work and to support it. Um this is a bit of a UK weekend. We're doing an episode tomorrow with David Phipps Davis and Anthony Stewart Hicks, who are focusing on pantomime. And we had a great episode with Paul Smith and Tim MacArthur. So we are all about spreading the Meet Me in the Monologue boundaries beyond just the United States. So we're we're thrilled to have you. And I know Maggie and Kelsey chomping at the bit to ask questions, so I will let them dive in.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

I I am chomping at the bit. Actually, I have a couple things to say, so forgive me if I'm scattered. I'm really liking your writing so much. And before I actually get to my question, I just wanted to add on to the conversation about humility and never know who's talking about you in another room. Because I struggle with that as well and assuming the best of the bubble. And I don't want to speak for you, but for me personally, that phrase, you never know who's talking about you in another room, sounds quite ominous. So to flip it to a positive idea. And again, I don't want to speak for anyone else, but at least my experience as a woman, I just feel like there is an extra added challenge because we are sort of encouraged to be humble and to not be conceited or whatever the word is that we're supposed to think negatively, or let others rather tell us how great we are instead of owning how great we are. So I just wanted to kind of acknowledge that for myself. I don't want to assume about you, but that's like an extra added pretzel for me to assume the best about my work and how it's appearing in the world too. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_04 24:11

And then my other question, which is actually the only question here that I had, I liked what you said about how exposing it is in writing and how people pick out what you don't expect from your work. And I'm curious if dur well, first my first question is about your writing process and if it comes sort of all at once or in chunks, or how that looks, and onto that, does the consideration of what people might pick out come into your process in any way?

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Um, so question number one. I'm gonna sound so smug for any writers listening, but yeah, the writing of the supermodel in the CAF was actually really joyous and quick. And actually, I have sort of gone back on early drafts during making the show last year because I actually wrote it in 2023, it took a couple years to kind of bring on a wider critic team and get it on properly. But yeah, I I I sat myself down in the the place that I was staying in at the time at the kitchen table, and I wrote I just wrote each monologue from start to finish and put them all together. Wow. So yeah, and then obviously over the years I've finessed and changed things, and for the run of the show in last year, 2025, there was kind of one major thing that I changed just to like up the stakes a bit with with the supermodel and Janie when they meet, but yeah, I think I think it was really just a play that had been bopping about in my head for quite a long time, and I think the characters just wanted to speak for themselves. And then I love that I also have plays on my laptop that have never seen the light of day, and I'm really hoping that this year is gonna be my my time when I actually get the chance to dive into some writing again. And I guess in terms of writing plays with with other characters, with you know characters interacting, not just a a monologue. I do think that that is going to, yeah, it will take a lot more drafting and planning. It's not I'm definitely not gonna come away from that experience being like, yeah, I just sat down and wrote it, but maybe I will, I don't know. Sometimes you just get a hit of inspiration that you get lucky, and other times you don't, and you have a sick a difficult second album vibe. Yeah. And then the second question about so so just to get this right, do you mean would I ever change something in my writing because I'm worried about some how someone's gonna perceive it?

SPEAKER_04 27:15

Yeah, or like does it ever hinder you from going where you want to go?

SPEAKER_02 27:18

Oh my god, yeah, yeah, all the time. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's terrifying, it's absolutely terrifying, and and it's weird because as I said, like the first character in supermodel, Nessa, is kind of me, and she says some things that are just really cringe and kind of icky, and like there's this whole section where so it's when Janie comes in and asks her for money, and then Nesta kind of starts saying, starts saying, like, you know, I want her to know so she says, No, sorry, I don't have any change, and then she says, like, but I I want her to know that I really don't have any change, and and I really do feel, you know, very guilty about this, and you know, I keep I keep saying sorry because I want her to know how genuinely guilty I am, and you know, that that isn't me because I I'd like to think that I have a bit more nuanced idea about this poverty porn kind of thing going on there, but even to to write that coming out of someone's mouth, which I know that is how some people behave, but to write that and I guess as an element of well, I was knowing that that was gonna have to come out of my mouth, yeah, is really it's just really scary. And yeah, there's something about writing writing in a splurge that I just think, yeah, you have to just trust it, and trust that people are gonna know that you're you're just taking on someone else's voice and you don't agree with them or you don't disagree with them just being a writer. Yeah, but it's really hard.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Right, yeah. Yeah, the assumption, especially when it's you're the writer and the actor, people assume that what's coming out of that character's mouth is what's coming out of your head and your mouth. So we have to hope that our audience trusts and understands past that.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Yeah, yeah, and they do, and they do, and I think the reason why you just get scared about it is because you're not you not you, as in one one is just so self-involved at that point because you've been like looking at your face for six months on a poster and on all this marketing, and you've written it, and you know, it's your baby. Sorry, I know some people don't like that term, but like you really have just poured so many hours and and you've poured money, you've poured everything like the world has to offer into this thing. So yeah, therefore you're just taking it really personally, and then other people are just arriving and they've paid, you know,£10 or£15, and they're there to see a show, and they're not they're not making all of these connections to you personally, and and that's that's great, that's really freeing. Of course, obviously there will be there will be some people who will go, oh I know when you said this bit, actually what you meant was this person, or yeah. I'm really I'm at a point now, sort of going back to what you're saying earlier about, you know, would you like companies to do the show? I'm like, yes, like get it out into the world. And next year, I really hope that we're gonna tour the show or do it again. And yeah, I'm really, really I'm excited to perform it to like an audience full of people that do not know me. Because yeah, I think that would be even more freeing.

SPEAKER_05 31:22

So when you're preparing to perform uh these solo pieces, do you have any because I've done two solo shows. Uh one that Dennis wrote, um Mouthy Bitch, and that was like 40 minutes. It's 40 minutes, uh 45? I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

It's a little longer than that.

SPEAKER_05 31:42

Longer than that. It was it's long. I mean, well, long when you're by yourself, you know.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

And yeah, I think it's I think it's 70. 70.

SPEAKER_05 31:50

Oh wow, see? It went fast to me. And then I did not I, Samuel Beckett, but both of those required a totally different um kind of preparation because they required a lot of physical stamina. And I considered myself, I consider myself in pretty good shape, physical shape, but both of those I realized required something really d different than preparing for a regular play with other where you're up there with other people. So I'm just wondering what your preparation is like for these things, or if you noticed that a similar challenge is uh that I had.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

Similar challenge, yes, definitely. I think what the really sad thing is, is that all of the shows that I've made, and and I know I'm not just speaking for myself here, I know I'm speaking for like a lot of my peers, is that sort of the preparation process looks like write the play, or at least write the play to a draft that you're happy with, in order to send it off to theatres where you want to go or fringe festivals. Then you sort of spend the next six months scrabbling around to find funding slash bringing on creative, the rest of the creative team. What usually happens is like a bunch of those funding ideas don't work out. You end up with not enough money in order to pay yourself. So you're working other jobs in order to fund this amount of time that you're gonna take off in order to put your show on. By the time you get to opening night, you're fucking knackered. Like you're you're absolutely you're burnt out, right? And you're thinking, how how am I gonna have the energy and just the gall to perform to 60 people when I feel so physically and emotionally drained? Then obviously on opening night, you have a group of mates come and see the show that give you this massive energy boost, and your adrenaline is like through the roof. So you come out on this massive high, and then you sort of ride your way through the rest of the shows, you know, however long your run is, and then you finish your run, and then you have to go back to your other job immediately because you're really broke by this point, and then you think, oh my god, I'm never doing that again, because that was horrific. Then what happens is about two or three years down the line, you haven't done any acting, and the whole process repeats, and this has been happening to me for 11 years now. So, in terms of physical preparation, it's like flail around in a park for like two months before, hoping that you're gonna be your heart is gonna withstand the adrenaline that I was talking about earlier. Do a bit of yoga at home if you've got time, yoga with Adrian, yoga with Adrian, lifesaver. And yeah, just hope that your your training and your experience is is gonna kick in. But I actually have to shout out another solo performer in the UK called Elle Dylan Reims because I sent her a voice note on a train platform like two days before the show, and basically saying, you know, I don't know how I'm gonna do this. I how am I going to perform when I feel so exhausted? And she just sent me this absolutely lovely, encouraging, just kind of spiritually guiding message of you you just will, you just will, you'll be fine. And I was, and it was, but yeah, I don't know. I think I I don't know how sustainable it is. And I find yeah, I do find myself thinking, if it does go, you know, two or three years down the line, and I I still haven't like leveled up in my career, and it just and I'm still just making a show in the same way that I have, with friends, trying to find my own funding. I really need to sit down and say to myself, is is that something that I want to do again? Because the highs are high, but the lows are like the lowest. And I don't like the message that it sends out either. Because it sends out the message to the theatre industry, yes, I will deplete my own resources in order to share my show, basically as an act of service in this state. I will make myself depressed, I will make myself tired, hungry, yeah, all of these things, but just burnt out essentially, in order to share a play, which I've also written for free, and that's bearing in mind that the equity fee for a play in the UK is around five grand. So even before I started doing any acting, I'm five grand down. So yeah, I I do really want to think about that before I approach this process again. And that was a big rant.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

No, I mean society loves loves art and loves to be entertained. You know, people want to be entertained, but they balk at the cost of paying for the entertainment and paying the entertainers and the the creators. You know, how how often do people look at what paying for a a streaming rental is and think, no,$9.99 is too much for this movie. When you think, you know, what is the movie ticket? What are theater tickets? You know, if you want to be entertained and and we as a society do, support your entertainers, support your creative people, because otherwise society has no soul. We are your soul, we are your conscience, we are the mirror that you get to look in and see yourselves at society's best and worst and most fabulous and most troubling. So support that uh in every possible way, but especially support it financially and support those creative people who do that.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Love it. Hey, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

That was my little rant.

SPEAKER_05 38:48

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Well, on that note, thank you so much, Emma Bentley, for joining us today on Meet Me in the Monologue. We've loved having you.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

Oh, thank you so much. And thank you for making this. I I love listening, and um, yeah, I'm excited for the future of this podcast too.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

So, well done, you thank you for listening to Meet Me and the Monologue. Be sure to subscribe and join us for every episode. Check out our episode notes and information about where to find and support the work of our guests.