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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2002)
From left: Andrew Hodgdon, Pam Carsten, Amber Leigh Martin, Krispi Bacon and Marc Weaker ace the House of Cunt The House of Cunt is back with a new late-night show by C hristopher M c Q uain “ ‘ Cunt’ is not slang, or any marginal form, but a true language word, and of the oldest stock. It is a derivative of the Oriental Great Goddess known as Curia, ofKunda, the Yoni of the Universe." — Barbara G. Walker, Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, as quoted on a poster for the House of Cunt f you’d told me on a recent Wednesday morning that by evening I’d be in the mid dle of the stage at Stark Raving Theatre playing a character named “Skippy” in a sketch called “Advertising Today” during the rehearsal of a comedy/perfonnance/dance troupe calling itself the House of Cunt, I would have been slightly alarmed. But there 1 was, on emergency assignment for Just Out, aiding a group of more-than-merry pranksters as they plotted the recurring act of audience participation. (“Skippy” will presum ably be selected/coerced from each night’s audi ence.) And I was having a blast. It’s hard not to feel giddy around these folks, and you’d have to bite your lip to keep from laughing at their loose, spontaneous humor, which frequently veers into the cheerfully offensive. The performance troupe’s eyebrow raising name belies its good-hearted approach. Composed of a small constellation of comed- ically talented Portland-area actors/dancers/per- formers who orbit the centrifugal force of de facto ringleader Amber Leigh Martin, they’re out to instigate laughter and entertain through lighthearted randomness and absurdity. The red-headed, laid-back Martin recounts the group’s roots in her mellow Southern accent. It all started in 1995 when sne and her partner, Andrew Hodgdon, did some cable access skits and videos together. “Somehow that turned into live perform ances using those characters,” she explains. “It wasn’t House of Cunt then, but it’s what started the whole neurotic, crazy thing of creating sce narios and characters. Some of the cable access characters were in the last show, and a couple of them are going to be in the new show.” Shows are fueled by the group’s love of their childhood pop culture experiences— the more ’70s-centnr the better, especially TV, and especially surreal variety/vaudevillian TV. It’s all done with a strong whiff of postmodern eclecticism. “I’m a singer first, then I’m a dancer— I have I a n i u ia t even know the words politically incorrect.” For his part, Hodgdon cites the revolutionary 70s sitcom Maude admitting, “I don’t watch any modern-day television, but I’ve got all that old stuff plugged right in here, like in my veins.” Hence, the new show, The Late Summer Replacement Special, could be described as a live a i i u t11t.11 i gu coo t-uiu v.u y 1110 in there somewhere accidentally, you know?” says Martin. “I guess it’s my upbringing, watch ing Saturday Night Live in the 70s and Carol Burnett. Gilda Radner. Soul Train. The Moppet Show. Genius stuff. Norman Lear. So unafraid to be a little bit politically incorrect, not to Sin is i Liminal brings a smart and sexy show to the Panorama by M arc A cito ntense. Powerful. Sexy. Funny. Unusual. Twisted. Thrilling. Seven words to describe Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s music the ater piece The Seven Deadly Sms as presented Liminal Performance Group knows sin by the performance art company Liminal. A modem meditation on what constitutes layered stage images prove to be both provoca- sin in a capitalistic society, the piece was the | tive yet ambiguous, inviting any number of inter pretations. Subsequendy, the audience is left final, collaboration ffom the creators of The with more questions than answers, not because Threepenny Opera but is every bit as timely tixlay the creators have failed to present the show’s as it was at its 1933 premiere. Director Bryan themes bqt because they have succeeded so bril Markowitz has made the inspiring choice of the liantly in unearthing the richness of the work. all-night dance club Panorama to give his pro duction the appropriate whiff of debauchery. Fans of Cabaret and Moulin Rouge will Singing in the original German with a project delight in experiencing the real thing here in ed translation, the young and enthusiastic ensem all its glorious decadence. Liminal’s Seven ble works with a raw, heat-generating energy that Deadly Sins is an evening not to be missed. jH is so palpable it practically hits you in the chest. The movement direction by Catherine Egan is j T h e S even D eadly S in s plays or 8:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday with an additional particularly inventive and canpetting. (Plus there’s lots of very steamy girl-on-girl action.) 10:30 p.m. Thursday show through Sept. 28. By presenting an endlessly fascinating array of 21 and over only. Tickets are $16, which includes gestures and tableaus in juxtaposition, the multi one drink, from Jackpot Records or 503 '890*2993. I | channel-surf. Some of the characters and see ls narios I sneak-previewed: A hillbilly hoedown p played like Hee Haw on speed. Martin, along with costars Krispi Bacon and Pam Carsten, as bizarre, eccentric, heavy-accented English Siamese triplets who ululate their way through Alice Cooper’s “Only Women Bleed.” Hodgdon as El Dink, an outrageously suave and funky TV host/ladies man. The deadpan Marc Weaver as Alzheimer Joe, a less-than-cognizant children’s television star a la Mr. Rogers. Bacon performs a modem interpretive dance to Kate Bush. Most memorable is Martin’s ecstatically “insincere lounge singer, who croons an in congruously impassioned “Morning Train” as a tribute to Sheena Easton after proclaiming the diva’s vocal cords “the hottest in town” and breathlessly confiding: “When I met Sheena, it was actually on the morning train. That’s when...the affair began.” She’s nothing short of a comedic performance artist who can be ironic as Sandra Bernhard, eerie as Miranda July and smart as Laurie Anderson. The raunch, nudity and provocation factor at a House of Cunt show runs high, with plen ty of against-the-tide political and social humor. “I enjoy pushing buttons, but I don’t enjoy being an antagonist,” Martin says. “I wouldn’t want to be perceived as that.” Hodgdon agrees: “Anything that may have shock value is definitely in there with more of an approach of consciousness raising— giving you something to look at and think about rather than just react to.” Martin, who has had relationships with women, also believes an open-minded queer audience will find plenty to relate to in The Midsummer Replacement Special. “I’m not gay,” she says, “but I’ve played around in that world, and it’s not a bad place to be. I’m not into the stereotyping and separation of people into cate gories. I play men as much as I play women, and mainly that’s from personal experience.” She explains how she believes all the people in her life make her who she is. “I was raised by the redneck men in my life as much as the Southern Christian Stepford-wife women, you know? I’ve got total dykes in my family, and I’ve got KKK in my family, so I really read the language of all types. Honestly, I feel like our show...would hopefully fit in amongst multi ethnic crowds, multigender crowds and multi orientation crowds. I feel there’s enough stuff that everybody could relate to some degree.” J H of C u n t performs The Late Summer Replacement Special 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday Sept. 7 to Oct. 5 at Stark Raving Theatre, 2257 NW Raleigh St. Tickets are $12 from 503-232-7072. T he H o u se aas cowing Suncfai/s c5i . ABOARD PORTLAND SPI RI T Am erica's most treasured art form returns to the city's only floatin g venue. Portland Spirit's 2 n d annual Jazz Brunch senes is under way. Every Sunday though Septem ber 29th . musicians send notes sailing. D ifferent artists and sounds w ill be explored weekly. Join us fo r one, multiple, or all perform ances. Upcom ing C ruise Events: C a l l (503) 224-3900 o r (800) 224-3901 • b o o k Live Jazz Brunch Series — E very Sunday, Ju ly m um* - Septem ber 29 th F rid a y E a rly Escapes C ruises com ing m Ju ly o n l i n e n o w a t w w w . p o r t l a n d s p ir it . c o m
