L – Toni Nagy, R-Sarah Buckner (Photo by Aletheia Lane)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
A Hollywood Fringe show at The Broadwater (Black Box0
Closed
RECOMMENDED
Grape Culture opens with a scene of such spectacular and sophomoric grossness that I clutched my pearls and braced for the worst.
Suspend your disgust. The show, a collaborative effort by social media maven Tony Nagy and performance artist Sarah Buckner, is a trenchant examination of “grape” (read that rape) culture — society’s disgusting tendency to blame the victim, the bred-in-the-bone entitlement of many men, and the extent to which some women, gaslit by their abusers, mistrust their own perceptions.
However, a polemic this is not. Nagy, whose viral videos juxtapose her dancerly athleticism with her musings on power dynamics, and Buckner, a classically trained ballerina and feminist theory scholar, are so wacky and offbeat that their harrowing message is hidden in hilarity. That is, until it slaps us in the face like a rubber chicken.
The lithe performers twerk, breakdance, and spin throughout this hour-long show, stripping down to their skivvies for quickie costume changes and brandishing a succession of props, including an assemblage of cheap blow-up dolls. Donald Trump’s infamous “Grab them by the…” comment is acted out with gusto by the duo, who don’t shy away from obscenity to make their point.
Where reality stops and fiction begins is anybody’s guess, but the show seems derived from personal experience. The women’s dismaying accounts of being drugged, dominated, and dismissed have the ring of truth. Particularly poignant are skillfully filmed rear projections showing Buckner weeping in shame over a traumatic encounter. Did the encounter actually occur? In hidden camera footage — real or not? — Buckner confronts her harassing off-screen boss and quits her job in righteous indignation.
Whether rooted in their actual experiences or not, Nagy and Buckner are anarchic forces who deliver the kind of experimental entertainment characteristic of the Fringe festival. What a shame their show has closed. It deserves an extended run — perhaps in Edinburgh?
