By Jennifer Beasley
Monologue by MJ Wilson MJ Wilson – Performance artist & community worker
Move over Wil Anderson, Type-A Marketing Man is here to show you what the Gruen Transfer is really about!
Monologues. They either score a bullseye or result in eye-rolling despair from the audience. Luckily for MJ Wilson, the writer and performer of Type A Marketing Man, he has scored a hit.
Oozing onto the stage at The Butterfly Club in his tight grey suit, holding a bouquet of flowers as a funky jazz number heralds his entrance, MJ’s Marketing Man owns this audience. By ingratiating his character in this way and giving the flowers to an audience member (sadly, not me), it’s an excellent demonstration of show, not tell, which sums up this forty-five minute play perfectly.
Calling his character, the brand whisperer, MJ launches into his cocky, egotistical character. Threading themes of the masks we wear, which also foreshadows a powerful scene later in the Monologue, MJ’s character, also called Murdock Matterson, sums up every image of Mad Men and hyper-masculine Australians as he skilfully moves around the stage.
MJ’s great use of space is almost like a dance. He has this fascinating way of pulling his character into stationary poses, and his poise and athleticism is evident, a showy foot slide, just a tad over-the-top but so appropriate, visually enforce this oily character’s self-importance.
Sliding into another character, ‘Jenny’, his wife, laments the rise of domestic violence. Meanwhile, our Marketing Man pays lip service to state, he’s not part of the problem. Shifting into a discourse on the sexual ecstasy of the trending influencer, MJ constantly sells his brand, always circling back to his theme and sharp but related verbal changes keeps the audience hooked.
As MJ pivots back to the past, the glory days of Vegemite and Weetbix advertising, again the character revels in his hyper-masculinity, throwing Bryan Brown in as an idol, and a strong man’s pose. My companion said that the image of Bryan Brown flashed through his mind at the beginning and demonstrates that mental connection that all writers strive to achieve has hit it’s mark.
Delving ever deeper into his character, issues around concealing homosexuality and drug use are revealed under the hyperactivity of the Marketing Man. As MJ ramps up the energy, his mask slipping under the pressure to fit into his consumerism rampage and sell-sell-sell mentality, his comments on champagne sipping elites with their dead vacuous eyes (good specificity) trigger an increased tempo as we finally see the real man unmasked as he ironically wears a mask, yet still compelled to sell God bundled up on a Black Friday Sale.
Props were mainly well used, except for the Ukulele that sat like Chekov’s gun on the right of the stage but made a rather brief appearance at the end. Probably not needed. To elevate this Monologue further greater specificity would paint a stronger picture as these are the elements that live on in the audience’s mind.
A wonderful, polished offering from MJ Wilson, a member of the Melbourne Writers’ Theatre and who has presented One Act plays in the past.
Go see this one. Well thought out and the references to Coles and how they market their products will make you revise why and how you buy products. The artist will donate 20% of all sales to The Ocean Cleanup
Type A Marketing Man plays at The Butterfly Club at 7 pm until Saturday November 2nd, 2024.
