Ladies. Gentlemen. You have eaten well…
Okay, maybe let’s not think about what comes after that line from Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One as we read Shelley’s review of The Monarch Theatre at Park Row in London. Oh, and if you go, maybe don’t take the shortcut through the alley, especially if you didn’t leave the pearls at home.
Meanwhile in our world’s Gotham, Nicholas Fortugno checks out a ghostly short of sorts while Patrick gets a looooong distance call from the late Sharon Tate.
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The Monarch Theatre at Park Row — Wonderland Restaurant Group
£135–245; London UK; Ongoing
Say you’re on the lookout for something really special.
Maybe you’ve already experienced the VIP package at The Burnt City, you’ve enjoyed cocktails at Avora and dinner at Phantom Peak, and now you’re on the lookout for something really, truly, decadent. Maybe like me you’ve just seen the cinematic slow burn The Menu and spent the first two thirds dreaming of what an incredible immersive production the island and restaurant would make.
Look no further than The Monarch Theatre. If there’s a more exciting experiential dining experience in London I’ve yet to hear about it, or it involves private clubs of certain inclinations up to no good behind closed doors.
Located within the restaurant Park Row — a year-and-a-half-old venture designed with serious staying power, in direct collaboration with Warner Brothers around the DC Comics universe — The Monarch Theatre isn’t strictly immersive theatre but rather self-professed theatrical gastronomy. At a 20-seat communal table surrounded by panoramic projection screens and effects mechanics, guests are treated to a 2.5-hour-long ten course menu inspired by Gotham’s most infamous, accompanied by paired cocktails and wines. And while the menu is an indulgence for any gourmand (well worth the price of admission for the artistry and presentation alone), the dining experience itself is what sets The Monarch apart from other bastions of haute cuisine.
Our maître d’ narrates our navigation through courses as we’re invited to engage with our surroundings: a token-eating automaton who predicts our drink orders, puzzle boxes at our seats, cards with hidden messages, strange cutlery and some do-it-yourself work with atypical kitchen implements, all while our environment keeps shifting on us: the hypnotizing effects of the projections and music cause the walls to melt, spin, fall away at the edges of the occasional smoky mist, while the table itself goes through scenic iterations far beyond the call of standard dining duty (no spoilers. I refuse.) There isn’t much of a narrative, but who really needs one.
With a script directly collaborated with and approved by Warner Brothers, Park Row and The Monarch Theatre take their commitment to fine dining hospitality experience very seriously: both venues are Gotham-centric rather than Batman-themed and there’s a strict no-costume rule though a little bit of Bat-bounding in pearls and tasteful purple suits is welcome. Park Row even has proprietary wine labels: “Dance with the Devil” (red) and “Pale Moonlight” (white). The Monarch’s menu is seasonal; the headlines may stay roughly the same but the ingredients and dishes do change, meaning repeat guests will always be able to look forward to a fresh dining experience.
At £135 per head to start for lunch or £195 for dinner, this isn’t the typical ticket in London that blends in with the family picnic. But there’s nothing typical about The Monarch Theatre. A meal here is an excellent on-ramp to immersive for newer initiates or a luxurious repast for seasoned enthusiasts — an occasion to be savored no matter which hero, villain, or domino mask your company may be wearing.
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— Shelley Snyder, London Curator
Nighttime Stories: A Doomed Village — By Fire on the Moon
$20, NYC; Run Concluded
Brevity can be a blessing or a curse — either you’ve cut the work into the tightest version of itself or you left out something critical. Nighttime Stories is a work that securely failed the brevity test. Clocking in at a literal seventeen minutes in the show I saw, Nighttime Stories attempts to scare you with a tale of a cult in the woods told by an unreliable and potential murderous narrator, but instead it’s just a confusing mix of video projection, acting, and set design that seemed like a first draft rather than a finished work.
I don’t want to be too harsh to Fire on the Moon here because the whole piece felt like an experiment. The main movement of the piece is a back and forth between a live actor in an abandoned cabin set and different projected and faux-holographic videos of memories or other characters with whom the actor would interact. There was potential in that form, but it fell short in a lot of little ways. The actor did scenes with projected characters, but the timing and positioning was slightly off each time, so you never actually believe in the interactions. A lot of work went into the stage design and a surprise dark light reveal, but at no point did I know where I was or why I was there. Ultimately, what the short duration cut was the story, so I can only tell you with certainty there was a cult leader, parents and children, and that people disappeared, but not who the actor was in the story, what he was doing as he interacted with these other unknown people on the projectors, or who disappeared. There was a ton of exposition and storytelling and content that did nothing to clarify what was happening or scare me in any way.
If I were here as part of a dry run where I could have given notes, I would have pointed out the potential of the actor working with the holograms and the effectiveness of making the theater into an immersive jungle set. But as a final show, it’s just woefully underdone. Fire on the Moon should never have sold tickets to this; they should have workshopped it until they had a real show with a duration worth the ticket price and a story that made sense.
– Nicholas Fortugno, New York Correspondent
One Bad Day — Nothing in the Dark Productions
$20; Remote (Telephone); Through Feb. 10
It’s July 20th, 1969…(Wait, isn’t it January 17th, 2023?)…I’ve answered the phone…(No, I’m on the phone with the doctor….)…it’s my old friend, Sharon Tate…(THAT Sharon Tate?!?!)…and we’re catching up, talking about how happy we are…(but, when I think about it…are we actually, truly happy….?)
One Bad Day is a 20 minute telephone experience from Stepy Kamei, creator of We Should Met In Air. The call begins with Dr. Kaplan (Kamei), reminding the audience member about the clinical tests they participated in earlier that day. Following the Doctor’s warning about time travel being a side effect, the audience member finds themselves speaking with film actress Sharon Tate (also Kamei), weeks before her murder by members of the Manson Family.
While seemingly a simple conversation about nothing, One Bad Day is an intricately layered dialogue full of meditative ideas and profound questions. Ever present is the concept of legacy, as the experience subtly questions how people are remembered versus how they should be remembered. For Tate, I admit to adhering to the former, knowing her only through her death. Shortly after the call ended, I sat in silence, alone in my home, thinking about Tate, a person who had plans, hopes, and dreams, for the first time ever. One Bad Day is a magnificent reminder that legacy shouldn’t be about someone’s death but rather their life.
Successfully fueling this deeply introspective piece is Kamei herself, as both a performer and creator. Kamei channels captivating energy and dramatic nuance into her performance as Tate. Another topic of conversation is happiness, and while Tate proclaims she is, Kamei’s vocals masterfully and subtly suggest otherwise. This pairs well with One Bad Day’s tightly focused narrative. Every question Tate asks is pointed and probing, yet open-ended and inviting. It’s a skillfully executed structure that fosters free flowing conversation while remaining tethered to the experience’s themes.
Yet, my offboarding conversation with Dr. Kaplan initially left me out of sync. While appreciating being eased back into the present, Dr. Kaplan’s questions made me think first if I made wrong choices during my call, rather than immediately reflecting upon One Bad Day’s themes. Additionally, I believe the email sent before the experience predisposed me to those themes. The email with two recommended links of information essentially spelled out what’s to come.
But overall, thanks to Kamei’s excellently crafted narrative and dynamic performance, One Bad Day makes for an engaging and poignant conversation about life and legacy.
– Patrick B. McLean, Chicago Curator
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