Winnipeg Fringe show involving mayonnaise enemas scheduled to continue

A graphic Winnipeg Fringe Festival show that involves nudity, oral sex and at least three instances of mayonnaise enemas will proceed, despite complaints over the graphic content and a promise from the performer not to tone down the act.

The show Hollywood Hen Pit has been at the centre of much scrutiny since the show first appeared on stage this weekend.

Reviews of the performance describe the show as a satire surrounding the life of an aging Hollywood starlet, "as performed by two nude men." A CBC News reviewer says the show is completely improvised and featured oral sex between the two men.

According to Winnipeg Free Press reviewer Wendy King, the show also involves an actor "inserting mayonnaise into his rectum" and defecating in front of the audience. "If you attend, do tread carefully around the debris as you leave and avoid touching anything associated with the stage," King writes.

Here is a synopsis offered on the Winnipeg Fringe Festival website:

Doesn't give much insight into what the performance entails. Is it a romance? Is it a period piece? Is it obscene beyond words and justification?

Since the show's content has come to light, Winnipeg Fringe Festival officials have been forced to stamp out fires. The performers, however, have promised to proceed as planned with four remaining performances.

The show’s Monday afternoon performance is all sold out, but seats are still available for Tuesday night. Date night, perhaps?

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In an interview posted to YouTube over the weekend, the creators of Hollywood Hen Pit defend their decision to bring the performance to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

"We are dealing with difficult subject matter that isn't pleasant and not really meant for entertainment. We don't want to make things that we find difficult into entertainment. But we certainly want to address them. That is why we have prepared the material the way we have," said Ian Mozdzen.

Partner Doug Melnyk argued that there is a place at the Fringe for such performances. "Most of the shows are quite conservative and don't see things like this. I sort of think that it maybe makes the case for having a category of performance art in the Fringe. Either that or it makes the case for having a Fringe outside the Fringe," he said.

Here's the thing. The Winnipeg Fringe Festival is already the fringe of the theatre and performance art scene. This is where the non-mainstream finds a home. This writer has attended Winnipeg Fringe shows on several occasions, and performances can vary run anywhere from bizarre and offensive to bizarre and entertaining to bizarre and downright brilliant.

But it seems the issue comes down to preparation. The audience was apparently not entirely aware about what they were about to see. This despite Mozdzen and Melnyk previously courting controversy with their 2011 performance Monopoly Man Pit.

(A content note posted by CBC regarding that show includes a warning that the artist "drinks his own urine and appears naked. Touches his genitals and exposes his backside.")

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Since the Hollywood Hen Pit controversy came to light, the warning associated with the show has been increased from cautions about "language and nudity" to include an 18+ age limitation and a warning about subject matter.

But, considering the entire show is improvised and its intention appears to be to shock and offend, how long will this warning be strong enough? What is the next step for performers willing to do… apparently anything?

The entire affair can be summarized by a Mozdzen quote to the Free Press, in which he says: "Maybe it's really bad, but it doesn't matter to me. It's just what I do."

If this show were a painting, it would be one of soiled mayonnaise smeared on a blank canvass. To some, that might be considered brilliant. To others, obscene. To the artist in question, it seems, it doesn't matter. Seems he doesn't even care where the mayonnaise drops.