Ben Grinberg and his scene partner Axl Osborne bared almost everything in Plausible Deniability v. 0.1, set in a gallery-turned-steam room where the audience are cast as voyeurs. The latest work-in-progress from Almanac Projects kicked off the Fringe with a two-day run at the Crane Arts Building\u2019s Box Spring Gallery, part of the Cannonball hub.<\/p>\n
Through acrobatic dance, Grinberg and Osborne gave theatrical form to the gym and steam room-based rituals of cruising as they know it, with torrid athleticism and gravity-defying acrobatics. Not even an act of God could\u2019ve kept those towels on, and the performers continued in nothing but their dance belts. Their acrobatic feats elicited thunderous applause from the audience, arrayed within arm\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n
Grinberg and Osborn\u2019s jaw-dropping acrobatic prowess bulldozed unabashedly past the intimate. This was all carnal. Though I do wonder how the production might have discovered various theatrical and ethical levels if more time had been given to showcase intimacy, emotion, belonging, and the (im)possibilities of genuine connection within this phenomenon of queer relation-building. It will be worth following this developing work. <\/p>\n
True to the conditions of immersive theater, the audience was also in the sweltering makeshift steam room for the duration of the 40-minute show. The space was confined and the audience\u2019s bodies greatly increased the temperature of the already poorly ventilated room. Theatrical haze provided throughout the runtime gave the appearance of steam. <\/p>\n
On one hand, it\u2019s appropriate that a production about cruising and sex in a steam room creates conditions of literal thirst, not just thirst in the popular sense of sexual desperation. But on the other hand, the performance must keep the conditions for its audience in mind. Perhaps if future versions are just as hot, the production assistant who passed out towels and took everyone\u2019s phone prior to entry could return to offer water as we exit. <\/p>\n
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