FRINGE: 4 plays about SEX
It used to be that a guy could grab a brewski and check out some gratuitous female nudity at the Fringe festival – and not have to think about what it meant.
Not so much anymore. Times have changed.
For the better! From harbouring “shameful” secrets, we are in a modern age of lively and healthy discussion about gender, sexuality, feminism, sexual harassment and everything else that used to make us uncomfortable, and that our parents (or teachers) never talked about. On top of that, this fresh climate has inspired artists to create some astoundingly good theatre at the Edmonton Fringe festival this year. We’re seeing the theme everywhere.
One of the best of these shows is Tease (Stage 10) by Toronto’s Big City Kitties burlesque troupe. They have created a rare gem that might’ve been unimaginable at the Fringe 30 years ago: A sexy show about feminism.
You’ve heard of a triple threat? Is there such a thing as a sextuple threat? The three performers Lindsay Mullan, Veronika Slowikowska and Connie Wang are very good at writing, acting, dancing, comedy, improv and music. That’s six, and they have more theatrical talents. Plus they’re gorgeous, and also they take their clothes off – in one case getting all-the-way-naked.
They start the show with a parody of burlesque shows, which is weird since “burlesque” literally means parody. Can you do a parody of a parody? Apparently yes, you can.
“Gentlemen, hide your boners! Ladies, wipe down your seats!” the Kitties announce before living up to the title of the show with several sexy dance numbers. They veer sharply here and there into personal confessionals and social commentary, a lot of it very graphic and honest, none of it particularly preachy, and most of it hilarious. We meet sexy nuns, sexy schoolgirls and a sexy French maid before the meaning – the thought – behind sexual objectification is delivered. It’s more with the force of a French tickler than a sledgehammer.
The script – by Mullan – is perfectly on point, impeccably timed to hit every comic note, and these gifted performers follow suit, giving us deep messages behind their “sexy” comedy. You’ll never look at burlesque shows the same way again.
5 out of 5
***
For many people, there is no human being less sexy than a clown. Unless that’s your kink. That’s OK. We don’t judge.
That said, having a sexless, silly, childlike clown character host a sex education class for adults is the central joke in Is That How Clowns Have Sex? A One-Woman, Queer Clown Sex-Ed Show (Stage 10). It works beautifully as Beatrice the Clown – aka Fiona Clark – takes her class through a litany of sexual information: Basic anatomy, blow jobs, masturbation, using condoms, straight sex, gay sex, non-binary sex, sex without penetration, you name it, and are in fact invited to name it by writing sex questions on anonymous scraps of paper. The clown stows them in a fluffy bag that looks like a vagina. Flexing her improv skills, Beatrice answers as many as she can, sometimes in a faux-awkward style common to clown-dom, at other times giving graphic demonstrations with props – which are hysterical.
Beatrice says she doesn’t quite know what’s she’s doing, and that somehow makes it even funnier. You couldn’t possibly feel as awkward as your sex-ed teacher looks, and that may set you at ease when she starts to tell you how to make a dental dam to safely give your partner a rim job. For example.
Anyway, don’t take the kids to this clown show. It’s sex-ed for ADULTS who (probably) didn’t learn it in school (or from their parents).
Just one complaint: The dreaded “talk-back,” where at the end of a Fringe play the performers shatter the fourth wall – in this case it’s removing the red nose – to talk to the audience as their real selves. This show has a long talk-back. Last Sunday, it went on for almost 15 minutes after it was over. It’s for a worthy reason beyond the usual plugging of merch or friends’ Fringe shows: Carrying on with serious responses to audience questions, and offering resources and support for people struggling with sexual or gender issues. But was this a play or a real sex-ed class?
Maybe it was both.
4 out of 5
***
Maybe it’s time to let a MAN talk about sex … for a change. Ow! Who threw that?! It was a JOKE, OK?
In Woody (Stage 13), we are asked to imagine Pinocchio all grown up. The Blue Fairy made him a real boy, remember, but that was a long time ago. Now that he’s getting to be a man, his nose doesn’t grow when he lies – but perhaps some other part of his body does? Oh, baby, lie to me, LIE TO ME!
Yes, that’s exactly what happens to Pinocchio in this fractured fairy tale. The title of the play by Michael MacLean should be a dead giveaway – yet there is little that is cheap or gratuitous in what could’ve been an X-rated fantasy of this former puppet’s thriving career in the porn industry. It’s a touching play at heart.
In a sometimes sad and disturbing dark comedy performed intensely by actor Neil James, we are also asked to ponder the nature of happiness, humanity and existence itself. Also, sex – without which those former three items would be moot.
Through a performance that jumps around in time, we see Pinocchio suffer through loss and tragedy, join him on a noble quest, and are privy to his anxious puppet dreams where he feels the pain of being human – even though at least one part of him is still obviously made of wood.
4 out of 5
***
One woman’s lifelong love affair with the penis is chronicled in THE COCKWHISPERER: A LOVE STORY (Stage 2).
“I love the cock,” she says. There you have it.
This play, too, is presented a little like a sex education class, with titter-inducing diagrams and whatnot, but it’s more of a sexual coming-of-age story from Hamilton comedian Colette Kendall – and what a story! Well, actually, it’s probably a very familiar story, which is part of what makes this piece work so well. It’s relatable.
Colette says she was raised in a conservative, old-fashioned household, and so only saw her first actual penis when she accidentally glimpsed her brother’s as a teenager. What is seen cannot be unseen! The girl then becomes obsessed with penises – and yet afraid at the same time. What is this … thing that seems to have a mind of its own? She shares some research, with the aid of “props.”
As the story goes on, Colette loses her virginity – sort of – to a boy down the street, and he doesn’t know what to do with a penis either. It’s a BIG mystery!
This is an engaging and honest comedy, allowing the playwright-performer to talk about her experiences and insights, through various relationships and penises. The monologue moves at a fast and hilarious pace, and even the many corny cock jokes are forgivable. Like how penises lie: “Just the tip, honey, I promise.”
The take-away: Look for the “man behind the cock.”
4 out of 5
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