With a title like Chlamydia dell’Arte: A Sex-Ed Burlesque, I just couldn’t resist. The name alone represents all things Fringe! Risky titillation rubbing up against camp with a classy wink? I’m in. Not to mention the added benefit of watching people’s faces twist up in disgust as the title rolled off my tongue like the first line of Lolita.
Gigi Naglak and Meghann Williams bring their special brand of sexual education performance art to DC’s Fringe from Philadelphia, and there’s something very Philly to my mind about this show. It’s basically a raw and earthy variety act. Impersonating everything from a pristine white-clad ballerina prancing about oblivious to her red-stained undies, to mustachioed tango dancers proclaiming the difference between transsexuals and transvestites, these are painfully hysterical and unafraid performers.
Interspersed between tidbits on essential sex-ed topics like how to choose contraception (courtesy of a gynecological puppet with an eerie vocal similarity to a certain former Alaskan governor) are video interviews of real people talking about attitudes towards sex. Though these segments didn’t really capture my attention and even added a few glitches due to equipment and costume changes, I was forgiving because of the unabashed riskiness on display.
It’s a truly fun and funny show, guaranteed to delight or offend. Maybe both! That’s how it should be at Fringe.
Chlamydia: A Sex-Ed Burlesque
by Gigi Naglak and Meghann Williams
reviewed by Jenn Larsen
Read all the reviews and check out the full Capital Fringe schedule here.
Did you see the show? What did you think?
Give it a 3. The problem with this show is that it’s supposed to be a comedy, but there were long periods of where things fell flat. There’s a good routine with a talking vagina – but otherwise, it seemed like a couple of middle-school girls trying to be irreverent for their friends.