{"id":11848,"date":"2012-08-14T09:44:47","date_gmt":"2012-08-14T08:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.badreputation.org.uk\/?p=11848"},"modified":"2012-08-14T09:47:26","modified_gmt":"2012-08-14T08:47:26","slug":"penny-arcade-sex-performance-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badreputation.org.uk\/2012\/08\/14\/penny-arcade-sex-performance-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Penny Arcade: Sex, Performance, Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disambiguation: this article is about the performance artist Penny Arcade<\/a>. For the gamer webcomic and its dismissive attitude to complaints about rape jokes from its readers, please see Penny Arcade<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Penny<\/a>

Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders for Time Out(Time Out \/ Jeremy Goldstein \/ Penny Arcade)<\/p><\/div>\n

Thanks to a suggestion from a friend, I recently managed to catch the end of New York performance artist Penny Arcade’s show Bitch!Dyke!Faghag!Whore!<\/strong> at the Arcola Tent<\/a> in Dalston, London. That seemed like the right venue for it, with the tent walls, benches and tables it felt partway between cabaret and circus.<\/p>\n

Normally, either of those words would have me running for the hills. My first boyfriend was a juggler, which after two years compounded my existing distaste for most forms of ‘fun’ and has left me with a severe allergy to audience participation of all kinds. For the record, I also dislike games, sport, karaoke, ‘street theatre’, children and dogs.<\/p>\n

I decided to brave the striped tent of intense social awkwardness on this occasion because the friend who invited me has a similar outlook, so I could trust her not to shove me onstage. And also because the show is about sex and politics, two of my very favourite subjects.<\/p>\n

Penny and her show<\/h3>\n

If you don’t know who Penny Arcade is, here’s her rather fascinating biography<\/a>. And here’s a kind of trailer for the show from the Arcola to give you a flavour:<\/p>\n