FringeNYC 2013: Fxxx Me!
I'm not like other girls, guys normally like me for that...that I'm just me. A solo show from Sweden. One woman, many topics. She talks about everything, nothing is taboo.
Official production websiteShow details/ticketing at FringeNYC
Review by Josephine Cashman · August 15, 2013
“Don’t ever stop fucking me.”
There’s a loaded statement if there ever was one.
Fxxx Me is a short, 45 minute satirical one woman show that manages to both celebrate, insult, objectify and worship women all at once (never fear, men aren’t off the hook either). Written and performed by Swedish actress Ulrika Ellemark, it is the premiere of its English Translation at this year’s FringeNYC. It is successfully mesmerizing and appalling, and very, very smart.
The satire is provocative. Ellemark is provocative. She is sensual, regal, proud, sometimes submissive, and she has no shame about who she is. She loves men. She loves everything about them and so she is the Best. She tells us that she doesn’t like complicated, but then goes into great detail why. Her friend never gets laid because she talks too much and cares too much about social issues. Ellemark gives us advice- actually instructions- on what turns her on, what body parts need grooming, how she will do absolutely anything (and she means anything) to keep her husband happy. And since she is the Best, we should follow her example.
Ellemark’s character is quite believable as this very complex woman who builds her arguments and then undercuts it without any self-awareness. Or is there? I can’t quite decide if the satire is subtle or over the top, and there are times when I worry that perhaps some of the biting comedy is lost in its cultural translation. She challenges the audience to look at aspects of the relationships between the genders, and this woman’s point of view. It is not always comfortable, it is at times insulting, but the more outrageous her ideas and opinions are, the more weirdly fascinating she becomes.
It is a peculiar performance, but a remarkable one. I kept waiting for the carpet to be pulled out from under me, but it never happened. That might be the point.
Preview: Interviews with Artists from Fxxx Me!
We're asking artists from each show to answer questions about themselves and their work to help our readers get a detailed advance picture of the festival:
Many Faces of Theater · Ulrika Ellemark (Director)
- What type of theater do you like most to work on?
Theatre with a political edge and theatre that makes you wanna change your own or other peoples situation. - What is your signature style or aesthetic as a director?
To make theatre that goes right through the heart and in some way effects you, in a bad or good way, it dosen't matter but theatre always have to be moving and with questions that are worth considering. - Are audiences in New York City different from audiences in other cities/countries where you’ve worked? If so, how?
I have no idea! This is the first time I'm performing in NY. Since this is a one-woman-show that I wrote, directed and do on my own it will be very exciting! - Where would be your ideal working environment: New York in 2013, Shakespeare’s Globe, the theater of Sophocles and Euripides, Stanislavski’s Moscow Art Theater?
New York 2013. But also big theatres in Europe, especially Berlin, they produce theatre that never leaves your mind. - Groucho, Chico, Harpo, or Zeppo?
Groucho I guess.
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