Adelaide Fringe 2013
Puppetry of the Penis
A-List Entertainment
Genre: Mainstream Theatre
Venue: The Royalty Theatre - 65 Angas Street, Adelaide
Festival: Adelaide Fringe
Low Down
Calling themselves ‘shameless buck naked men’ this duo share dozens of things to when you’ve got a moderately sized member and time on your hands. The show was pretty funny but the venue management were total cock ups!
Review
In a nutshell ‘Puppetry of the Penis’ is two men, Willow and Sammy, who spend an hour or so twisting their genitals around for a predominantly female audience. It’s a comedy act with a lot of bravery from the comics who present the hidden art of genital Origami. The show started about thirty minutes late because of very bad theatre management. The Box Office and Front of House Staff were slow and unorganised. By the time I collected my ticket I had overheard more than a dozen complaints about the ticket collection; such a shame because the show is enjoyable for any adult with a sense of humour.
Appearing in full length capes the two performers first offer warnings about the reality of the act, "There will be full frontal nudity."
The predominantly female audience squealed with raucous laughter at every mention of the penis for the first few minutes. When the capes were thrown off the squealing raised a notch or two in volume as John and James Dangle made their promised appearances. Once revealed there was no going back.
I have never seen so many playful ways to present a male member before; it’s never really shocking, in fact it is quite good fun to observe, but it did reach it’s peak early on and the squealing leveled out somewhat.
The fun of the show comes from the revelations of various ways to contort, fold and facilitate a flaccid penis. It’s all in fun and never crosses the line beyond slightly ribald humour, but it does get hard after a while to remain surprising. After all there are only so many things you can do with a willy.
There are moments of audience interaction that certainly took the breath away from some; particularly when Sammy threw his naked self over the front row and dangled his penis too close for comfort in the face of a woman, who gagged and shrieked as if it were a monster from a B-Grade Japanese Science Fiction film.
I suppose I’d call it physical theatre and stand-up comedy as there were many jokes told along the way.
I’d like to give the show five stars for bravery but with the venue service being so bad and so many people complaining afterwards that they had missed their bus because of the late start a star must be removed.
The show has been around for many years now, and although Sammy comes from Adelaide I understand they have travelled the world flipping, slapping and folding their penis’s for all the world to see. There is a live close circuit television camera fixed on whichever penis is being manipulated, and the image is projected onto a big screen so everyone can see, even up in the Gods.
At the end of the show the cast were available in the foyer to sell books and meet their fans. They wore pants in the foyer; the many women who lined up were panting in a different way.
If you have never really considered the vast array of things that can be done with a penis you will find this very amusing. If you hanker to see two penises attached to two very handsome and fit men then this is the show for you.
Show Website
http://www.puppetryofthepenis.com