Revenge of the Popinjay
Opening Night: April 1, 2015
Closing: April 25, 2015
Theater: Dixon Place
Someone is killing the heterosexuals! As dozens of brutal slayings engulf the city in panic, a young gay man rises to fame in underground rap clubs. WARNING: Adult content, extreme violence, and graphic heterophobia. A follow-up to “Tenderpits,” AnimalParts’ ‘avant-garde autobiography‘, Revenge of the Popinjay is an experimental rap-horror show in which Anthony struggles to cope with the loss of his sister while uncovering a frightening link between himself, his lover, and an illusive gay rap star/serial killer targeting heterosexuals. “Revenge of the Popinjay” combines storytelling, stand-up, physical theatre, performance art, and original live rap music to create a one-of-a-kind theatrical event. Popinjay satirizes the clichés of homophobic culture and questions the capacity for evil in all of us.
BUY TICKETSREAD THE REVIEWS:
April 17, 2015
The curtain speech at “Revenge of the Popinjay,” by Animal Parts at Dixon Place, sounds a bit different than usual. There’s little about cellphones or flash photography or exit routes. Instead, Anthony (Anthony Johnston), with his plaid shirt and ripped jeans and uniquely Canadian friendliness, shares the latest safety guidelines issued by the New York Police Department: “Try to be off the streets by nightfall. Do not go out alone. If you must leave your homes after dark, always travel with a same-sex buddy.” It seems that a slayer known as Gaylord the Ripper, the Hetero Killer has been hacking the arms off straight people, then dumping their bodies into the East River. (I guess if the dismemberment doesn’t kill them, the pollution will.) Happily, Anthony acknowledges that Dixon Place, long a beacon of queer performance, “is probably one of the safest places we could be right now.” But I’m not sure Dixon Place has ever seen a solo show quite like the queasy, creepy, chaotic “Revenge of the Popinjay,” which combines Theater of the Ridiculous comedy with confessional monologues, a slasher film aesthetic, an allegory of queer experience, a Beyoncé tribute and some rowdily pornographic rap music.
READ THE REVIEW