New Australian play ‘D*ck Pics in the Garden of Eden’ is part Dada, part Gaga & very Warhol’s Factory
You know from viewing the play’s title alone that you’re going to be headed down a wayward path. Actually, D*ck Pics in the Garden of Eden not only meanders down the path, but into a few rabbit holes, then off the beaten track, and all the way ’round the bend.
Created by theatre troupe, The Last Great Hunt, and directed by theatrical enfant terrible Jeffrey Jay Fowler, it is mainly a play about sex, with all its trappings and temptation, hype, hypocrisy and, yes, the occasional happiness it brings.
The opening scene is set in Eden. Or more so a minimalist garden with a few fake ferns and one artificial indoor plant (which we’re told represents the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil).
The music sounds more like muzak. And the costumes are Gaga-like absurd. Which makes the show all that much better to watch, as if you were back in a theatre of old watching Dadaists at work and play.
The main characters are Adam (David Vikman) and Eve (Arielle Gray) – him dressed with a bulging cloth phallus on his bodysuit; she donning the best frightwig this side of theatre bizarre. There are also a few actors dressed as wild animals, and one dude dressed as a mattress doing some kind of contemporary dance-meets-Pilates.
Our famous couple have been kicked out of the big garden and are now parenting in Suburbia, which it seems has Adam bored to the point of having an affair behind Eve’s back, with his ex, Lilith. It’s all very bizarre with plenty of unexpected surprises – much like sex itself, really.
I actually found the cast to be fairly cool and collected considering the touchy subject matter – and given the fact the production’s stage director didn’t make it in on opening night, hence they were under less familiar direction. But a great job they all did!
At times D*ck Pics has a kind of ‘Warhol’s Factory’ aspect to it, with actors big and small, all appearing comfortable in their own bodies (and odd-looking body stockings). And there are more wigs in this show than in a B-52s video. In fact, a whole bunch of wigs get turned into a nifty jacket with furry shoulder-pads that many of today’s popsters would kill to borrow for a video shoot.
In sum, this is a play that’ll make you grimace one minute, cackle the next, and it’s full of twists and turns that only a subject like sex can lead you into.
As hilarious as it is sometimes, D*ck Pics in the Garden of Eden actually brings up some important subjects, such as gender expectations and body shaming versus body positivity. There a plenty of Freudian connotations weaved into the script, and the dialogue is hell-funny for the most part.
Not exactly the wisest thing to take a date to, but definitely a play for established and comfortable couples to go along and see. And singles. And swingers. Heck, everybody’s welcome here.
Antonino Tati
‘D*ck Pics in the Garden of Eden’ is on at the Subiaco Arts Centre, 180 Hamersley Road, Subiaco, until December 3, 2022.
Tickets are $30 to $40 and available at thelastgreathunt.com/garden.
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