Phoebe Bakker
With an alluring name, Monsters has all the makings of promising show. There seemed to be a focus on audience interaction, queer storytelling and high concept camp, on paper this ticked every box. Unfortunately it struggles to deliver on these promises creating a loose devised project that never quite feels like it gets to where it intended.
Monsters sets up a premise of a queer church group with a devotion to the Holy Goddess. The end is nigh and with only a set amount of time before the world ends, it’s imperative you renounce your heterosexuality in order to be saved. Radical Trans preacher Daisy aims to save those who have strayed from the path of righteousness through worship to the Holy Goddess but through a series of events we discover that acceptance of oneself fully is the only way to allow our inner ‘monsters’ to thrive – heterosexual thought dalliences and all.
Each of the performers committed to the concept with a confidence and there were moments were I could see the vision of what they were going for with this show clearly. I think they were overall let down by a lack of specificity in a variety of places. The script overall was quite vague. I was never really sure why the world was ending, if it actually was the whole world or this was a microcosm. The world building that was given was simplistic and never grew more than just a general acceptance of this is just the way things are here. Storylines that were introduced felt undeveloped and at points like we were playing catch up. There was a moment where someone had turned into a monster but I wasn’t sure why that had happened until much later and even then the reasoning for why that happened was messy.
Audience participation did take place but I don’t think it was strong enough to advertise the show as immersive, and the times it did take place again we weren’t particularly sure why we were doing it or at least the reasoning was weak. It never felt like it had a purpose, rather than just doing it for the sake of it. There were also points of the show where people were asked to take part and there was a strong hesitancy from the audience, largely I think due to the fact we didn’t buy into this world completely, but also it never felt like our inclusion shaped the narrative of the show.
The times we did have the most fun where when it was at its silliest. People dressed up in ridiculous costumes, creating new languages and a queer history tale of the creation of this religion stood out to me as when we were most on board. Around this however it needed more context and more world building to allow these moments to feel intentional and shine.
Throughout the performers carried a natural warmth to them, and their committal to the events within the show meant that we were willing them to succeed. Where it stumbled was in the skill of crafting of this world into one we felt like we understood and could relate to. In fairness I felt like all the blocks were there but a lack of specificity didn’t allow the concept to translate how they would have liked.
Recommended Drink: Ceremonial wine
Performances of Monsters have now concluded at Dublin Fringe 2024.
