Mel's father disappears on a business trip to Moscow. She steals her mother's credit-card and flies to Russia to find out what happened to him. She is sixteen, alone and in danger. But in Moscow anything can happen and Mel awakes the statues of two revolutionary heroes; poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. An adventure begins… and perhaps a romance… as they explore the high-life and lowlife, the past and present, of an extraordinary city.
Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes.
Present day (and mid 1920's) Moscow: various locations in the city
'Monumental' was first produced by GridIron Theatre Company in 1999 at The Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow, directed by Ben Harrison. This production was in promenade through the theatre and surrounding city. A second production in 2001 was performed by New Venture Theatre Brighton as a studio piece with an expanded cast of six performers, directed by June Rowe.
'Monumental' was inspired by a trip I took to Moscow in the mid 1990's. One night I came across Mayakovsky's statue and was fascinated by its defiant expression... and its striking likeness to my boyfriend of the time. Once I'd read Maykovsky's poetry, and found out about his life-story, I had to write about him.
Winner of Tab Lab's Playwrights' Slam 2001
Mayakovsky's life: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/majakovs.htm
Mayakovsky’s poems in English: http://www.marxists.org/subject/art/literature/mayakovsky/
Gagarin’s life: www.abamedia.com/rao/gallery/gagarin/index.html
Gagarin’s death: http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article302054.ece
[Melody is sitting at the bottom of Mayakovsky's plinth, which should be quite high. She looks utterly depressed. Street vendors call, selling their wares.]
VENDOR1 -Ice-cream. Fanta. Coca-Cola. Get yours here.
VENDOR2 -Hotdogs. Burgers. Chilli-dogs. Have a nice day.
VENDOR1 -Ice-cream.
VENDOR2 -Hotdogs.
VENDOR1 -Coca-Cola.
VENDOR2 -Chilli-dogs.
VENDOR1&2 -Get yours here. Have a nice day.
VENDOR3 -(Approaching Mel). Rolex. Cheap Rolex. No fake.
MEL -No thanks.
VENDOR3 -Gucci. Versace. Nike. No fake.
MEL -No.
VENDOR1 -Fanta.Coca-Cola.
VENDOR2 -Hotdogs. Chilli-dogs.
VENDOR1&2 -Get yours here. Have a nice day.
VENDOR4 -(Approaching Mel). Souvenirs. Souvenirs for Intouriste.
MEL -I'm not a tourist. Leave me alone.
VENDOR4 -Genuine soviet memorabilia. Genuine Russian Icons.
VENDOR3 -Crocodile.
VENDOR4 -Ivory.
VENDOR3&4 -No fake.
MEL -Shut up! (Shouting them down, dodging them). A horse… A horse walks into a bar and orders a drink. The barman asks, 'Why the long face.' Yeah?
VENDOR3 -Joke.
VENDOR4 -Funny.
VENDOR2 -Take dollars
VENDOR1 -Sterling.
MEL -A bear.. a Genuine Russian bear walks into a bar, and asks for a Gin and (pause) Tonic.
VENDOR3 -Euros.
VENDOR4 -Travellers cheques.
MEL -The barman asks, 'Why the long paws'?
ALL VENDORS-American Express.
MEL -A man walks into a bar and asks for a Double-entendre.
VENDOR1&3-Neuveau Russiski
MEL -So the barman gives him one…
VENDOR2&4 -Rich tourist.
MEL -A man walks into a bar. 'Ouch'
ALL VENDORS -Give money! Give money! Give money!
MEL -Shut up! A man walks into a bar… My father… walks into a bar. Here. In Moscow. And he disappears. You selling information? If its genuine, I'm buying. Yeah? You take credit cards? It's my mother's but she won't mind. We got a deal? You open for business?
[The Invisibles fall away.]
MEL -Yeah? Yeah? You scum. I'm not shaking. I'm not afraid. It's ten at night, I'm alone, I'm lost, I've no-where to stay and…
[She has got out a cigarette but doesn't have a lighter.]
MEL -…and I don't even know the Russian for 'a light'. But I'm not afraid.
[She is defeated. As the Invisibles speak she climbs up beside Mayakovsky's statue.]
VENDOR1 -Little girl lost
VENDOR2 -Lost her Daddy…
VENDOR1&2 -Disappearing
VENDOR4 -Becoming one of us
Mel -[To Mayakovsky's statue]. Hello dead bloke. Mind if I join you? I mean, I've done nothing to deserve it but, hey I've nowhere else to be.
VENDOR3 -One of us
VENDOR2 -The ones you don't see
VENDOR1 -Who turn a blind eye
VENDOR4 -The ones you don't hear
VENDOR3 -Who never say a word
VENDOR1&2 -Unloved, unlooked for,
VENDOR3&4 -Unprotected, unafraid.
ALL VENDORS-Invisible.
Mel -I have a dead space inside… I feel nothing any more…
[She kisses the statue]
MEL -Goodbye.
[The Invisibles hold out their hands to her and she steps towards them, almost off the edge of the plinth. Vladimir catches her. The Invisibles scatter. She still has the unlit cigarette in her mouth. He strikes a light and holds it out to her.]
Vlad -Ivestiia…
Mel -Fuck me!
Vlad -But we've only just met.
"... The basic idea of following a 1917 revolutionary and a politically illiterate modern kid through the streets of the ultimate post-communist city is brilliant; the final scene where Mayakovsky feels his huge, lusty life-force freezing back into the cold stone of his statue is heart-rending, full of terrible political resonances, as well as the deepest literary echoes" Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman
"A surfeit of imagination... a remarkable piece of theatre. With it's twists and tangents, 'Monumental' is fascinating in the telling." Mark Fisher in The Herald
"Intellectual debate is achieved through the stunning theatrical eclecticism if the company, combining street theatre, intricate visual trickery, styalised performance and the trademark magic realism -you'd have to be a statue not to be moved." Steve Cramer in Scotland on Sunday
Poster from the Brighton production, by Tamsin Fraser
Mayakovsky's statue in Moscow
Gagarin's statue in Moscow
Publicity still from GridIron production
Lily (Sinaid Cussack) and Mel (Pauline Lockhart) in the Glasgow production (with Frances Gallop the set designer just visible in the background).
Invisibles Trevor Scales, Leila Leam, Tessa Pointing and Michael McKenna in the Brighton production. The aprons are by Nikki Gunson.