Literary Erotica and Sensual Nonsense

Performance Space Orlando

Leo Oiler

Experiments, whether theatrical or scientific, sometimes succeed and sometimes fail. This evening of experimental performances and reading is no exception. The theme was Love and Sex, all in honor of one of the main guilt holidays (Christmas and Mother’s Day are the other two leading examples). The strongest piece opened the show, with drag king Brian Alexander reading “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” This piece of backwoods pop sleaze takes on an entirely new meaning with the addition of the world weary TV confessing to messing in the wrong spot.

Another strong piece took up a point/counterpoint discussion of the etiquette of oral sex. Sexy Sandy Nelson took the point for the “It’s not required, so be glad” side, while David MacKey covered the “Jane, you ignorant slut” angle. Tasteless? Of course. Enlightening? Not really. That’s why it was so good.

Weaker pieces include a reading of “dirty” jokes, none quite up to Playboy standards. (I always read it for the jokes. And the nudity. But mostly for the jokes.) A review of selections from the Victorian Erotica collection The Pearl was interesting, but suffered from the narrator stumbling over the words, and searching for the sections she was to read.

LE & SN represents the fourth cut at presenting literary naughtiness to a select audience in a continually evolving presentation. Some of these pieces are ready to expand to the relatively wider audience of Fringe Festival, and some are only fit to suspend in formadelhyde for future caution. Caveat Amator. ◼