My overall impression
OK so I am pretty sexually liberal and am familiar somewhat with the works of Marquis de Sade (even have performed in a production of Marat/Sade) so I kind of knew what I was getting into. The frontal nudity and masturbatory type stuff doesn’t really bother me though this show didn’t feel very serious to me, it came off as more comical. I had a hard time taking it seriously – for which I was grateful during the rapey and pedophilic scenes – but I’m not sure how much comedy was actually intended. (I went into a full-on giggle fest during a shocker stunt at the end which I won’t give away.) I actually liked the bare bones set piece and the staging – using actors literally as chairs – and there are some clever lighting cues, augmented by a handy flashlight.
But…I rate this as “Not My Thing” (even though I kind of almost expected it to be my thing) because unfortunately the quality of performances varies wildly within the cast. I found Patricia Aguille quite charming as Juliette and Raissa Eckmann Peniche effective as Eugenie. Davi Tostes has an amazing body and its (totally naked) movement is a pleasure to watch, albeit sometimes quite a distraction. I know it’s early in the Fringe and there are some language & accent issues with the Brazilian theater company, but actors appeared to be forgetting lines, literally reading them off flash cards or an iPhone or something while on stage, and at times merely reciting them rather than really being in the moment. Their performances appear to have been directed to be way too screamy for my taste, so much so that I just kept thinking, “That’s not what sex is really like.” And so it wasn’t sexy, and it wasn’t porn, and it wasn’t revolutionary (to me), but I guess it was kind of fringey. I just kind of chuckled at all the sex miming with flaccid phalli, but I don’t think I was supposed to.
