Monsters fail to titillate
Deirdre Tarrant14/09/2011 10:12:00 a.m.
BILLED as an experience “never before experienced by man or monster” this show has had a wealth of publicity with fabulous feline and furry photos by Stephen A’Court promising a real treat. The costuming is amazing and worth the ticket with the imaginations of Vaune Mason and Cathy Tree Harris truly unleashed in a variety of monstrous personas.
Each scene has a new twist and a new cast of manic characters, but the sum of the parts does not add up to a satisfying whole. There is no shortage of the weird and the wacky and each cast member is competent in their genre but there is a lack of cohesion and the production values do not support the creativity. Details need care, from the hoop henchmen being clearly visible discussing the audience during the unnecessary interval to the frighteningly close tissue exponents swinging overhead (too close and at the wrong angle to maintain sexy), to the rather randomly draped figures in black who metamorphosed into a back up choir for a strangely lackadaisical drag singer. High heels please to make those legs more shapely?
A demented contemporary dancer (Maria Dabrowska at her manic, social commentary, best) and a grotesque slattern sustained with totally captivating consistency by Emma Phillips were the stand outs of the evening. The capoeira monsters who burst onto the stage and a riveting journey across the stage by a chicken-chasing, chemise clad dream-diva added the promised ‘mutating cupboard of life’ to the mix.
There was a lot of stripping and overt sexual insinuation but it was not truly titillating. Every bra and most of the clothes got removed but maybe there would have been something more monstrously burlesque if sometimes we had been left to use our own imaginations?
The collection needed a tightening of the proverbial screws to really fulfil its Monster Mission!







