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Puppetry
of Penis weirdly hilarious
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I
don't know what it says about our modern world when hundreds
and hundreds of Nanaimoites (primarily women) are prepared
to plunk down nearly $45 a head to watch a couple of naked
Aussies play with their willies live on stage a the Port Theatre
as happened Tuesday night when Puppetry of the Penis came
to town.
But whatever it means, when all the deconstruction is said
and done, the show, which plays tonight for its third and
final night in town, seems to have left an awful lot of people
with great big grins on their faces. And really, how bad can
that be?
Puppetry was concocted in 1996 by Australian Simon Morley
and now includes several troupes. The duo that hit Nanaimo
was Richard Sutherland and Simon Bradley with opening act
award-winning Canadian comedienne Kristeen von Hagen from
Victoria.
I came to the Tuesday night show a penis puppetry virgin,
never having seen anything from the act. I knew they were
going to be naked and I knew they were going to be doing some
odd stuff with their reproductive organs, but beyond that,
nada.
First, the choice of Von Hagen as opening act was a good one.
Obviously she had a tough job because when you face an audience
filled with people who have paid good money to watch a couple
of naked men play with themselves and you walk out, a fully
clothed, obviously penisless female, you gotta have some chutzpah.
And she did. Her act was raunchy, which was appropriate to
warming up for an act like Puppetry; but also very funny.
She has great timing, a wonderfully self-deprecating style
and some deliciously off-beat jokes that struck the right
chords.
Sutherland and Bradley get naked on stage fairly quickly and,
judging by the approving shrieks of laughter, this was what
the audience was waiting for.
At first it's mildly shocking, but after the first few moments
in which you gawk and check out the equipment, the shock is
gone and you start to pay attention to the jokes and the rather
amazing things one can do with a few inches of resilient spare
skin.
Some of the more amazing "installations" include
the Windsurfer, Eiffel Tower and the Sea Anemone. There really
is no way to describe these except to say that an awful of
lot women may start expecting extra entertainment value from
the penises in their lives.
Sutherland and Bradley are wonderfully comfortable in their
nudity (all that Aussie Rules Football locker room time has
obviously paid off) and in the end, it's not shocking or decadent
or even all that titillating.
It's just weird, hilarious and the show ends just before it
has a chance to slide from funny to repetitive.
The medical profession tells us that a good belly laugh is
healthy. If so, that was one healthy audience that walked
out of the Port Theatre Tuesday night.
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