Whisps and Whips: Smoke

It generally holds true that the best part of a party takes place in the kitchen. For some reason, people get side-tracked by good, genuine conversation when they stop in to refresh their drink, and often spend the rest of the night there, wrapped up in unpretentious talk. That certainly seems to be the case in Smoke, though it’s likely the rest of the party was pretty darned interesting as well. Smoke (playing at The Flea through September 28) is a very compelling two-hander in which Julie (Madeleine Bundy) comes across John (Stephen Stout) in the kitchen, where he’s sneaking a smoke, an ironically verboten activity at a party which would otherwise appear to be without limitations. These two young, attractive hipsters are at a private BDSM party in a Harlem tenement. For the uninitiated, BDSM refers to “Bondage, Domination and Sado-Masochism,” and the party caters strictly to dedicated practitioners of the kink; we hear tell of activities in other rooms that range from the mild (spanking) to the extreme (blood and piercing play). This is neither a party for amateurs nor the faint of heart. Julie, however, is something of a novice, but being an attractive, sexy young submissive woman, she is a welcomed newcomer. What’s more, it turns out her father is a famous avant-garde photographer and artist . . . as well as John’s boss.