I think the monsters are actually the people, the way human beings manifest themselves in various ways; and grace is a kind of divine state that is bestowed on people. There is that dynamic between the monsters and the state of grace…Monsters of Grace reflects that dichotomy between human love and divine love. (1)

I saw Monsters of Grace at the Barbican in 1998. It was problematic - love and hate in equal measures. It was a foray into three dimensional animation in the theatre. It came 25 years after their musical theatre production Einstein on the Beach which was an avant garde cause célèbre – 5 hours long, no intermission and no narrative, only text which compromised of numbers and solfège.

Monsters of Grace was visualised by producer Jedediah Wheeler as a ‘unique hybrid’, popcorn special effects 3D animation hand in hand with the high art world. Expensive suits and 3D glasses. Using 3D animation was not originally in the plans of the two artists Wilson and Glass but the idea of the producer to keep costs down and ideas tourable. Turning a sketchbook into a touring show is never the easiest of things. But to get the translation from Robert Wilson's sketchbook to stage done by Kleiser-Walzcak Construction Company (digital effects creators for Stargate and Judge Dredd) instead of Wilson himself is the most hideous thing I can think of. Sketchbooks are the beginning of the process and how they are developed and translated if the ART of the Artist.

Robert Wilson was in conversation with Ruth MacKenzie before a performance of Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson’s Opera Four Saints in Three Acts - as part of the Edinburgh Festival in 1996 – and MacKenzie asked how did he set about devising a performance. On the flip chart by the side he drew a grid. He said that once it was decided how many boxes there where in a performance – you filled them in. Wilson’s work has many images of people filling things – glacially slow. Monsters of Grace’s Executive Producer Jedediah Wheeler was impatient and took the boxes away for someones else to fill. Interestingly there is no credit for Director with this production.

Robert Wilson and Philip Glass between them developed thirteen boxes based on the writings of Jalaluddin Rumi (the whirling dervish). These then were to be filled entirely by stereoscopic computer animation which the audience had to watch through the cardboard and gel glasses (courtesy of L.A. Eyeworks) with Philip Glass and his musicians playing live.

	It seemed as if Kleiser-Walczak had found the perfect solution to the problem of turning Wilson's dreamlike imagery into reality. "We were able to create a mountainscape for him," said Wheeler. "And in that mountainscape we were able to put the Great Wall of China and a pagoda that looks like the leaning tower of Pisa and then all of that is fractured into little pieces of mica." Kleiser-Walczak offered him "synthespians," synthetic people that he could manipulate at will. "It dawned on me," said Wheeler, "that technology had caught up with Bob Wilson. (2)

But by the time the performances were due the animations were not finished and six sections had to have live performance. So ironically when much of the creation was so alien to Robert Wilson – he is spontaneous – like most artists – and found the craft of the 3D animation tedious but it was his usual working methods which had to save the production – real performers in real performance space. Watching went like this:

screen down and glasses on - film
screen up and glasses off - theatre
screen down and glasses on - film
screen up and glasses off - theatre…

	This is like being a dog with a litter of puppies that went away six weeks later. This one left me early. Here I was working with people who didn't know my work, in a medium I didn't know. I hated that!" admitted the usually reticent Robert Wilson, when discussing "Monsters of Grace" in a recent New York Times interview. "It was one of the most embarrassing things in my life. (2)

With totally incompatible parents - Monsters of Grace was a problematic work but inspiring nonetheless. The animations might have been horrible but the glasses we donned brought the audience into the work beautifully – when a virtual bird flew through the auditorium – I thought I’d seen the holy spirit. I dream of a day when the projections leave the screens. So instead of technology consuming us we meet on equal terms. Then we might redefine the Gesamtkünstwerk (Total Art Work) (3)of the 21st Century.

But Monsters of Grace was a horror story…

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