In Newsweekly – Media Reviews
With Genuine Drag Queens and Straight Humiliation, the A.R.T.’s latest production has something to offer Club Kids and Equality Activists alike.
Wanna see straight snobs humiliated into embracing full equality by a band of sadomasochistic drag queens? Then “The Island of Slaves” is the perfect show for you.
In a brilliantly conceived rendition of Pierre Marivaux’s early 18th century play, director Robert Woodruff and designer David Zinn create a fresh metaphor for absolute equality in Club Utopia, a gay nightclub that sports that artfully distressed look that combines concrete, graffiti and glitter at what feels like a half hour before last call.
What better venue could there be for lessons in equality? Gay bars have always been breeding grounds for turning class on its head, where those from the poorest don the most glamorous tiaras, while the most high and mighty submit to stripped-down humiliation.