The latest Alistair Newton production, Of a Monstrous Child: A Gaga Musical, is an incredibly intimate docu-drama/musical about, as the title suggests, Lady Gaga. The show is, perhaps quite consciously, structured like an essay: it has a thesis, followed by point-proof-explanation and multiple “body paragraphs” of ideas about Gaga in relation to art history, pop culture, and performance art, followed by a repeating of the thesis.
The play delves into many deep layers of understanding of pop culture, fashion, rebellion, history, depression, and art itself.
There is a clowning element within the play. It’s just astonishing that the company have managed to combine all of the elements. If you were to be charged with creating a docu-drama/musical in the style of Brecht and Weimar Cabaret about Lady Gaga -while giving the audience a history lesson and presenting all of this information in essay format- what are the odds that you could pull it off? You’d better call in Alistair Newton.
Newton employs many intuitive techniques to bring the audience into a very intimate relationship with the performers. A part of the play is about exploring the relationship between artists and performers, and what Gaga’s take on it is.
This takes the audience into discussions of different experiments in that relationship that Gaga has taken inspiration from. The most notable is Marina Abramovic’s 2010 MoMA installation, which invites patrons to share an intimate moment with Marina, just sitting across from her in silence.
An audience member is brought to sit in front of actor Tyson James for a touching monologue.
Another scene makes use of an experiment by Yoko Ono, who Gaga had once worked with, in which audience members are invited one at a time to come onstage and cut off a piece of Yoko’s clothing, or in this case, Gaga’s dress.
Bruce Dow, playing the late fashion and art innovator Leigh Bowery, deserves every ounce of acclaim he gets and more. Though playful and elusive, Dow has many intimate moments of audience interaction. He walks into the audience a couple of times to perform with it; the first is in humourous gest, the second, to deliver a powerfully personal and heart-wrenching story. During the latter, Dow had walked up and spoken to me. Though I had felt intimidated at first, the feeling was soon replaced with compassion and empathy.
I’ve never been so touched or felt such a connection to a performer before.
The crown of Dow’s achievement in intimacy, however, is at the end of the play. After getting an understanding of the character’s struggle with accepting himself, which is a struggle we can all understand, Dow tells us of a time when he had gone to an artist’s studio to be painted. Of his own accord, Dow had stripped himself of all clothes and makeup, which he would never leave home without. In a cathartic moment for the character, he appears naked before us. Dow is a rather large man. It’s astonishing that people may ridicule an obese man; and an obese man may feel shame at his body.
But not here, not today. In the audience, nobody had been ashamed.
We were brought together in this trust and understanding, created between the audience and the cast. I don’t think anyone who has seen the play will again be so quick to judge.
If you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned Gaga’s role in the play, it’s because as much as the play is about her, she isn’t the “protagonist”. In customary documentary style, the subject is always there, but from an objective distance.
However you want to phrase it, Kimberly Persona does a very stunning job at imitating, playing, and creating Lady Gaga. Persona is on stage quite a bit, but more as a “supporting role”, in the sense of storytelling. You will be pleased to know that she does sing and dance and play piano and cello and quite amazingly. She has an incredible piano solo at the end of the piece. You look at Gaga, you question and think about Gaga, but you never make contact with her until she plays for you, such as it is.
‘Of a Monstrous Child: A Gaga Musical’ by Alistair Newton
Buddies in Bad Times theatre, 12 Alexander Street
May 14-26
Marcus Bernacci
Contributor
