Previewed by John Daly-Peoples
THE ARTIST
Created by Thom Monckton & Sanna SilvennoinenQ Theatre
A Mulled Whine Production
Q Theatre
November 8 – 12
Previewed by John Daly-Peoples
“The Artist” was on at the Auckland Arts Festival a couple of years ago and at the time I wrote the following review.
“The Artist” should come with a warning – make that two warnings. Don’t sit in the front row. You could get to go on stage as The Artist’s stooge. Also, if you can remember where it is, bring along a table tennis paddle.
We are in an artist’s studio where we encounter The Artist (Thom Monckton) who over the course of an hour produces / assembles / finds several artworks which in the end are brought together for an art exhibition. Monckton explores a number of the tropes about art and artists which he plays with or gets lost in.
He must be a French artist because he wears a blue and white striped top but no beret – so he is bit like Picasso, but his activities have him more like Marcel Marceau the great mime artist. But then again he is also disconcertingly like the very un-French Mr Bean.
Monckton is a conjurer, acrobat, mime and contortionist who creates endless visual jokes, making use of the artists equipment and the everyday items of the studio. His attempts to get hold of a brush have him entangled in a table, a set of shelves and a rogue ladder while his attempts to secure some fabric to a stretcher with a staple gun are complicated, hilarious and dangerous.
There is an elaborate set-up around a still life where the fruit are given a life of their own and the traditional image of a bowl of fruit, bottle of wine and glass gets reworked in a clever visual joke where the artist paints one of the real green apples red so it matches the apples in the painting .
There was a bit of audience involvement. One young woman was cajoled onto the stage to sit for a portrait and then got given the job of painting artist’s portrait. There is also a rapid game of ping pong (remember the paddle) as he fires balls into the audience. The audience provided feedback with waves of laughter, but Monckton was particularly concerned with the chuckles of a young child pointing at his watch, letting the parents know it was past the young ones bedtime.
Monckton displays brilliant timing and pace in a mixture of physical theatre, mime and visual humour which makes this act classy and entertaining.
While he is silent apart from a few guttural phrases the background sound and music are brilliantly integrated into the performance.
THE ARTIST performance schedule
Tauranga
12 October, 6:30pm
Addison Theatre – Baycourt
As part of ESCAPE Festival
Auckland
8 – 12 November
7:30pm Tuesday – Thursday l 6:30pm Friday – Saturday
Rangatira, Q Theatre
Book at qtheatre.co.nz
New Plymouth
15 November, 6pm
plus schools performances on 16 November
Theatre Royal – TSB Showplace
As part of the SpiegelFest
New Zealand Arts Review 