FRINGE FESTIVAL REVIEW: ALIENS OF MONS

It’s hard to describe Aliens of Mons with words — unless you’ve seen it yourself, nothing we can tell you about it will come close to really describing the experience. Perhaps the first thing you need to know is that there are aliens in the story, but this isn’t science fiction. It’s a World War I story about a real battle that occurred near the Belgian mining town of Mons. Here, British troops defeated a huge German army against all logic and odds – which led to the somewhat obscure theory that supernatural beings actually helped the British win.

A quick Google search will shade more light on the tale, but the short version is that British soldiers won that battle thanks to the appearance of angels, who fended off German troops while the British retreated.

While that alone makes for a captivating story, the truth is that the magic of Aliens of Mons is in HOW the story is told, not what the story is about. The award-winning Polish troupe Teatr Ad Spectatores performs the entire show lying down on the stage. A camera films their movements and projects them on a screen as a mix of Chaplin-style silent film antics (complete with matching music and flickering captions) and circus-like live action.

Aliens of Mons is truly entertaining — a magic mix of comedy, quirkiness, and just plain brilliance.  A “movie in a theater” experience that brings about all sort of magical weirdness to the stage.

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