Fw: "Off Come the Thongs for the Gay Samurai Revue"

From: 7visions <7visions_at_prodigy.net_at_hypermail.org>
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 15:07:58 -0700

----- Original Message -----

I just had to send this...

L
----- By Paul Majendie
EDINBURGH (Reuters) - The good people of Edinburgh must wonder what is
going to hit them next at the madcap Fringe Festival.

First came the "Ladyboys" of Bangkok to woo fans at the annual
extravaganza billed as the world's largest arts festival. Now it is the
turn of the J-Boys from Tokyo with their gay Samurai revue that leaves
nothing to the imagination in the tale of two reincarnated warriors locked
in a passionate affair.

The strait-laced Scottish capital throws off its inhibitions with a
vengeance every August -- and it certainly needs to with some of the more
exotic shows on offer.

Last year, the Ladyboys grabbed the headlines when female impersonator Tor
Athapon was so worried about his silicone breast implants at high altitude
that he wanted to insure them for the flight from Thailand. It was the
perfect publicity stunt to pull in the crowds.

But things went from bad to worse. They were beset by more breast problems
-- first their silicone implants hardened in the chilly Scottish climate
and then a fetishist stole a pair of their conical fake breasts.


For the J-Boys, the toughest assignment has been attracting crowds down to
the club nestled beneath the walls of Edinburgh Castle where they are
performing up to three shows a day. In week one, audiences have been
averaging 15-20.

It is hard graft for the dancers. "We have no time for romance here. We
are far too busy, pure in body and spirit -- just like priests," said
Hiroshi Jin, founder of Company East.

Jin has taken the 12-strong troupe around the world for three months this
year with trips to arts festivals in Adelaide in Australia, Avignon in
France and now Edinburgh. Next year the globetrotters are off to Montreal
in Canada.

Hiroshi Jin certainly hasn't had a chance to go and see the Ladyboys of
Bangkok on their return trip to Edinburgh and is quick to highlight the
differences.

"I want to make a different show from the Ladyboys. We are guys who want
to be sexual on stage but we don't want to be transvestites," he told
Reuters after Wednesday night's show.

The audience certainly sees plenty of the dancers. For the glittering
costumes soon fall to the floor and they are down to their skimpy thongs.
They in turn are quickly discarded and, as their publicity blurb says,
then comes a show "highly recommended for women and men who relish high
camp, great fun and are not offended by total nudity."

Hiroshi Jin and fellow performer Sho Tohno launch into an impassioned love
scene that stuns into silence the smattering of middle-aged gay couples in
the audience.

"It is just simulated. I cannot have real sex on stage otherwise we would
be finished," Hiroshi Jin said after their erotically charged performance.

"Anyway, I don't need a lover. The stage is my lover," he added.

And then the J-Boys show ends on what must rank as one of the most surreal
sights at the Edinburgh Fringe -- the scantily-clad troupe launch into
their last flamboyant dance routine to the strains of Latino heart-throb
Ricky Martin singing "She Bangs, She Bangs."




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Received on 2002-08-20 15:01:42