Sexy monsters
Vaune Mason steps into a world of monsters as Tui in Monster Burlesque. Photo: Stephen A’Court
Within a tight budget, Mason wears a lot of hats. She’s the creative director, set designer and she performs, but above all, she enjoys bringing her childhood fantasies to life through costume design.
“As a visual artist I love creating worlds for people to come into and images for people to take away,” she says.
800 hours of costuming went into Mason’s show and as she was talking, she had three people in her living room still sewing. A big, fluffy monster was the crucial image Mason wanted to create, so she set about bringing Hugo, her first monster, to life.
“He’s a beautiful, big, blue creature with horns and big eyes. He’s comedic,” she explains.
After Hugo, she created three full sized, full-bodied monster suits based on Indian dance costumes.
“I was influenced by Bollywood dance videos, which are very colourful. There’s lots of bling, sparkle and bells. The monsters are fat and cute, the opposite of sexy, which makes them hilarious,” says Mason.
She gave the female monster six nipple tassles to twirl, in keeping with her playful vision.
Mason read Where the Wild Things Are as a child, but says she was more influenced by Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytales, translated into larger works of art.
“It’s a little bit creepy but it’s cute,” she says.
Mason describes Monster’s choreography as energetic, physical and hilarious.
“There’s a piece where werewolves do an 80s jazz dance to epic Goth metal. My monsters have developed their own personalities,” she laughs.
She pushes the boundaries of design and says materials are particularly important in the costuming process.
“I love the textures of the fur and the idea of adornment. My whole life I’ve been building up my skills to create things in new and different ways,” Mason explains.
She started out creating little, rotund jewellery boxes, which she saw as spaces to store something special.
“I love the idea of something round contained in a little treasure chest, like an egg or a pregnant tummy. I made these crazy containers with bronze legs, little arms, sometimes with an animal head on top. From there I started creating creatures inspired by materials I found. Once I made a squirrel creature with little wheels instead of legs.”
Mason’s been designing for years but burlesque is a recent addition to her list of hobbies, and she attended classes run by friend and well-known dancer Venus Starr. Learning to look sexy and seductive on stage was a difficult process, she says.
“Some women were skinny; some were of the larger body size. We were trying to walk in heels and lingerie, trying to be seductive and we were just not. We’d have been better off in gumboots. I felt ridiculously cack-handed. I had this vision in my mind of us in monster costumes. Everyone laughed the idea off, ‘Oh yes, Vaune, you have funny ideas,’” she smiles.
But Mason made it happen.
“I like turning things upside down and shaking them and seeing what comes out.”
Monster Burlesque, Paramount Theatre, 10.30pm September 8-10 and 15-17.
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