Fri, Aug 26, 2011 – Page 14
Theater: Get the kinks out
By Ho Yi / Staff Reporter
 |
Next Magazine questioned whether BDSM Company’s
performance at the Comedy Club in June was “a crime
against public decency. |
When BDSM Company (皮繩愉虐邦) staged its first public bondage/domination and sadomasochism (BDSM) show in June, two Next Magazine (壹週刊) journalists wrote a report on it using sensational language and unauthorized photographs, questioning whether the performance was “a crime against public decency” (妨害風化).
As part of the Taipei Fringe Festival (台北藝穗節), the same troupe will debut a new theatrical performance titled You Can Be the Kinky Star! (你就是SM片最佳男女主角!) about a group of BDSM enthusiasts auditioning for a BDSM movie. After the NT$500 show, audience members can pay an additional NT$500 to gain hands-on experience with the troupe. Experts will assist participants in arranging and engaging in BDSM performances, and a professional photographer will be on-hand to record it all. The activity is limited to those who have seen the performance.
Members of the company stress that while their performances are theatrical, they are not only about entertainment.
“We share similarities with theater people in the sense that we are more aware of the limitations our society and culture impose on our bodies,” said Song Jia-lun (宋佳倫), one of the group’s founders. “Theater is a medium, making BDSM more accessible to the general public … Perhaps through performances, audiences will be more conscious of what limits and represses their bodies and try to break free. We would be happy if audiences stopped seeing [BDSM practitioners] as perverts and pick up an easy trick or two, like tying hands or blindfolding, and tried them at home.”
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