Brought up by gay men from age 14 and schooled in the art of
self preservation by fierce drag queens, by 1968, Penny Arcade
(born Susanna Ventura) stopped trying to fuck homosexuals.
By 1973, she had established herself as a proud bisexual fag hag
(when the term wasn't used to mean sad hanger-on). Over the years
she saw the gay and lesbian scene mutate from radical to corporate
to politically correct, to today's hot mess of manifold LGBT and
queer tribes.
Using powerful stories from her own life (she was a Warhol
darling and and hung out with all the Factory superstars; she was
bezzie mates with the legendary Quentin Crisp, one of her many
spiritual brothers) she creates a complex and engaging live tableau
that crosses genres and boundaries.
Inviting audience members to join her and her sexy dancers - so
flexible they'd put Freddie Mercury to shame - this euphoric
experience creates a sense of community between 'us' the punters
and 'them' the performers and stars.
It's not a new move but its a clever move that has a particular
significance in Arcade's show. Her central message seems to be
this: if we're going to empower ourselves against the powers that
be, the powers who threaten to drive us further into poverty, the
powers who divide and rule against our best interests, we need to
get together and dance to the tune of freedom.
She's right on the money when she says the trouble with (what
was) the left-wing opposition to the creeping right-wing agenda
today is that we are pretty picky about who we keep company with.
The right wingers on the other hand don't give a sh*t about what
you look like or whether you're into Paulo Cohelo or Paul Daniels.
They will buy you a beer, drive you to a voting booth as long as
you vote Conservative.
With her sexy go-go dancers, her potted gay history and fabulous
musical score, some critics have accused Arcade of the emporer's
new clothes but they are missing the point. In fact, I get the
impression that those who protest thus are in the main white
heterosexual men.
Arcade's show celebrates the outsider; the freaks, bitches, fag
hags, dykes and whores of the show's title. Well almost. If I have
one minor beef, it's that her section on lesbians has a whiff of
ridicule and negativity that is not present in the stories of the
other minority groups in the show.
I'd be the first to acknowledge that dykes have been as overly
earnest and tediously PC on many occasions in the past but we've
also been inspiring, hilarious, courageous, stylish and fierce -
just like many of the gay men in her life.
All in all though, BDFW is a show for us, a shining, brilliant
example of how a woman of 62 (Happy Birthday Penny!) has much to
teach us and who, if we're smart, we'll adopt as our spiritual
mother so we can live free and fight for a more generous society in
which we honour and respect each other as the beautiful human
beings we all are.
Oh shit, did that sound too earnest?
Penny Arcade's Bitch!
Dyke! Faghag! Whore! is at the Arcola Tent, Dalston, London
until July 22nd. Go buy your tickets NOW from the
Arcola Website
