For those of you drawn to National Pastime Theater’s Naked July festival for the voyeuristic thrill of staring at nude performers—in other words, you honest ones—let’s begin with brief, pervcentric ratings of the festival’s five productions. (One caveat: if you’re so completely out of sync with current cultural imperatives that you like seeing body hair as it naturally grows, stay home. The festival’s budget for shaving kits and Nair must be substantial.)
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The Girlie-Q Variety Hour Touted as queer burlesque despite an almost complete lack of discernibly queer content, Girlie-Q offers a half-dozen amply fleshed, definitely no-longer-twentysomething women, dutifully and unimaginatively stripping down to thongs and pasties. Lots of other acts—singers, comedians, and a juggler—to wait through. Asses no better than yours. C-
The Great American Nudie Spectacular Ninety minutes of adult-themed sketch comedy that are barely nudie and never spectacular. The eight performers are entirely dressed through ten of their clumsy, occasionally incomprehensible sketches, flash their privates briefly in three others, and finally get naked in a two-minute finale. If one of the performers hadn’t stepped out of my wet dream, I would’ve spent the evening on Twitter. Didn’t get a good look at his ass. D-
Part of the problem may stem from the anti-intellectual instincts of the flourishing neoburlesque movement, which largely sidesteps meaningful questions about fetishizing women by wrapping striptease in irony. We’re all postfeminist now, the argument goes, so we can reclaim historically oppressive practices and retool them for our pleasure, even while continuing to subject women to the same old objectifying gaze. Since women are imagined to be in control and celebrating their sexuality on their own terms, no one need worry about the suspiciously patriarchal demand that they offer up their bodies for others’ entertainment. And anyway, all those uptight feminists just needed to get laid.
Lots of nice asses, though.
Through 8/2: Thu-Sun, see individual show listings for days and times, National Pastime Theater, 4139 N. Broadway, 773-327-7077, nakedjuly.com, $20 per show, $75 festival pass.
