[2014056] MONO-
House of Vnholy @ Plant 4 – Clipsal Factory Site
9:00pm, Mon 24 Feb 2014
Even though I often mourn the passing of the old Fringe office on Cinema Place – where you used to be able to see an expansive floor full of flyers from which to choose, rather than the measly basket outside each of the FringeTIX offices these days – there was still something amazingly eye-catching about MONO-s promo material; deep, bold RGB hues with stylish and thought-provoking monochromatic images really made their postcards stand out. Despite the long running time and awkward location, I committed to MONO- early.
Even though I had planned to walk out to the old Clipsal Factory, I wound up getting a ride there with a friend – but there was a hint of tension in the car that made the prelude to the show… well, interesting. Even more so when we arrived at the Plant 4 location and traded our tickets for teeth; I have weird memories of standing awkwardly in a growing crowd whilst running my thumb over the tooth I kept in my pocket, feeling its curious edges, whilst completely failing to absorb anything from the sheet of Director’s Notes.
The important takeaway from those Notes is that MONO- was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s short story Berenice… though that doesn’t really figure into things until later in the piece. Initially, the audience was guided on a promenade performance through the factory space – up and down stairs, through disused offices and change-rooms and bathrooms. This piece of the work is genuinely exciting: there are moments where the audience, as a group, walks into a room that is filled with an eerie fog, stark white light creating an overwhelming visual effect. There’s an encounter with a strange character singing ethereal notes in the corner of a room. Looking out of an upper office window over the factory floor, a spotlight picks out a figure digging (what we instantly assume is) a grave, whilst three figures watch from a starkly backlit (in bright green, another nod to the coloured promo postcards) room.
Downstairs onto the plant floor, to the scene of the grave: looking back to the offices from whence we came (now flooded with red light), we see a shadowy couple flirt… then fight. Three dark sisters dance for us, before we are encouraged to sit for a more traditionally theatrical performance…
…and this is where it all went wrong for me.
Whilst the promenade was thrilling and engaging, the sit-down portion of the show was repetitive to the extreme. Despite a stark white visual aesthetic (wonderfully juxtaposed against a projected black disc which grew from a dot to envelop the space, providing a tangible sense of tension as it did so), the performance – in which one could see blunt references to Berenice – almost bored my own OCD ticks out of me, as the principal continuously processed his stack of boxes for what felt like a millennia. By the time other characters ghosted their way through the set, I’d almost completely shut off; the addition of bright-red blood (and naked bodies) towards the end of the piece lured me back somewhat (as the unexpected tooth-collection wakened me from my torpor), but the pace – or complete lack thereof – of the second half of the show was disappointing.
Don’t get me wrong – the promenade segment of MONO- was totally worth the trip, and the performance has an integrity to its visual aesthetics which is almost beyond compare, ably supported by strong physical performances. But that seated section… wow. Props to House of Vnholy for sticking to their vision, but I really could have done with something a little more lively this evening.
(56) MONO-: Promenade excellent; theatre piece super repetitive. Visually sumptuous throughout; great production values. #ff2014 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) February 24, 2014