Thankyou. Ive settled on an idea suggested by a work colleage using severla glass cylinders with a panel at the front which plays the description of the mosnter. The tube also has a "Terminate Subject" switch at the other side which, well, terminates the subject...
Apparently, my buddy stole the idea from a combination of the old 1980's Star Quest series, the 1960s "It came from outer space" and of course, his favourite, "Incarceration on the Ark" (a russian 1987 comedy/drama series that we used to watch when we first came to Russia) which is where the glass holding tubes came from.
I plan on putting a variety of live models in them and having them react in different ways to your approach, which reminds me, is it possible to get a monster to attack an innanimate object?