|
Filthy Pervert Seeks Same
By Steve Dawson
Produced by Bailiwick Repertory 2008 Pride Series
Bailiwick Arts Center
1220 W. Belmont Ave.
Chicago, IL
Tickets: 773-883-1090 or www.bailiwick.org, $25
Fri. & Sat. at 10:30 p.m.
Running time is about 2 hours with one intermission
Through October 18th
Filthy Pervert Does Not Live Up to Its Name
Let’s face it; a show with a name like this is going to attract a fairly narrow audience and it’s an audience that will be prepared for whatever lascivious content is thrown its way. Sure, the play – or show, or series of vignettes, or whatever it is – includes scenes of restroom sex, sex in the bushes and a masturbation club, but honestly, all of this is a lot less titillating than you might imagine…which would be fine if there were some engaging or thought provoking ideas involved, but there is nothing of the sort. What we have is two hours of unconnected, albeit at times quite funny, scenes of gay guys trying find a way to turn Mr. Right-now into Mr. Right. Filthy Pervert is a rather bittersweet stroll down memory lane for gay men of a certain age – an age no longer accustomed to staying up so late, by the way – but it is unlikely to appeal to anyone else.
On a positive note, the show does have a wonderful cast. Michael Maurice Ashford, Bryan Campbell, Fred Uebele, and Tony Lewis are delightfully relaxed and campy throughout. Director Michael Hampton achieves sporadic success with some of the scenes, but there is no glue to the show and it falls flat at precisely the moments it most needs to soar. The final vignette is the weakest moment of the entire production. Even the funniest encounter – a scene in which Ashford in drag portrays a TDY relay operator in the middle of a phone sex session between two deaf guys – is strange because it is such an anachronism for a show that until that moment was, as far as I could tell, set in the present day. Somebody tell them about Craig’s List and chat rooms, please.
The message of Filthy Pervert Seeks Same is either that these guys were out looking for sex when what they really wanted was love, or it is a loudly proud therapy session from an earlier day that proclaims it is okay to be gay. Either way, it’s more sad than uplifting, despite the humor. Perverts’ scenes might work as a series of shorts in a gay film collection, but as a play they don’t cut it. If you go you will definitely laugh because self-deprecating laughter is at the core of camp. Even in that realm; however, Filthy Pervert Seeks Same is a mediocre offering.
SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED
Randy Hardwick
randyontheglobe@yahoo.com for comments
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2008
|
