Review: PUP PLAY: A QUEER PSEUDO-LECTURE (OF SORTS) at the Tampa Fringe

Pup Play: A Queer Pseudo-Lecture (Of Sorts), the award-winning brain child of the immeasurably talented Noah Pantano, is maybe the fringiest Fringe play I’ve seen.  It has everything you want in the Fringe experience:  Beautifully acted stories; masks; graphic sex talk; much hilarity with equal amounts of thought-provoking sadness; audience participation; full frontal nudity; a surfeit of kink; a dog cage;  cool projections; homonormative puppets; and even an audience member oohing, aahing and even shrieking the sound of an org*sm (which I’m sure differs every night). 

Once you get past the in-your-face sex acts and extremities of the narrator’s experiences in the kink community, the one-man show has a heart the size of Clifford the Big Red Dog.  But is it for you?  Put it this way: If you hear the word “fisting” and immediately think that it’s some innocent form of a fist pump, then perhaps this show is not your cup of Scooby Snacks. 

The warnings are projected on the wall when you first enter the space: STRONG LANGUAGE, FULL FRONTAL NUDITY, GRAPHIC SEX ACTS, DEPICTIONS OF SELF HARM, HOMOPHOBIA/TRANSPHOBIA, AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION and HOMONORMATIVE PUPPETS.  (Yes, there is a puppet that rears his hideous head about halfway through, making the show seem like Avenue Q meets Jerk meets Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse for England.)

I knew something was quite special—and quite edgy—when I read the original press release: “It is not for the faint of heart and not for everyone.  We’ve gotten as many standing ovations as we have angry walkouts.  Yet, those who push through will be moved by a  surprising and heartfelt show about modern queer identity.”

I thought: Walkouts? Standing ovations?  I must see this!

Gladly, or sadly (depending on how you look at it), there were no walkouts on the night I went.  However, two audience members did don doggy masks along with our performer. 

He opens the one-man play wanting a show of hands: “Who identifies as heterosexual?” A handful of people in the audience raised their arms in the air, to which our narrator lovingly shouts, “GET OUT!”  He then throws bouncy balls at them but eventually asks them to stay.  He introduces himself as Professor Handler David, and soon enough we’re in a class learning how to shove “bitchboys” into a “submissive puppy headspace.” 

For those not in the know, a “pup play” is a sexual practice of role playing as a young dog (hence the leather dog masks in the audience).  But, as our esteemed professor tells us, it’s not just a sexual kink…it’s social above all else.  (And he stresses that it is not—NOT—the same as the furry subculture.) If the show happened to be just about this, it would be interesting but one note.  Thankfully it goes so much deeper. 

Pup Play is quite funny in parts with some terrific one-liners: “Is Kermit the Frog a pervert because he always has a hand up his ass?”  It’s also quite poignant, sometimes gut-wrenching. There is a sadness, as in the moment when he doesn’t even look into the eyes of one of his pickups, acting the part of some thing, not some one. But this is his choice, where he can finally take control of his life.  

Mr. Pantano is such a talent that he goes all-in, face red and tears welling in his eyes as he strives for some sort of understanding. Yes, at one point in the production, the narrator strips off all of his clothing.  This is not to titillate, but to bare all, to stand before us both physically and emotionally naked. To speak the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may make some of us. Because truth is power. 

The show balances his self-questioning and self-hating with moments of pride, strong will and determination.  He breaks up with a boyfriend because the boyfriend is too scared when the narrator parades in public wearing his dog getup (scared for the narrator’s safety, not himself).  It’s hard enough for two gay men to hold hands in public anywhere but in certain safer sections of a city; now imagine one of them is wearing his dog gear in celebration of Gay Pride.     

At one point he asks the audience if they think it’s safe to wear the leather dog mask in public here in Tampa, to walk around the street with it on?  Most people answer a swift “NO,” but one person says “yes” and shouts out, “Ybor!”  That individual  thinks it’s safe to wear it on Friday or Saturday nights in our very own Ybor City?  One of the audience members donning a dog mask dramatically shook his head “NO” to the very thought, and he should know.

Some of the segments of Pup Play went on a little too long for their own good, especially the puppet piece, where shorter would be stronger and less is more.  But it’s a fast hour—at times rollicking and rowdy, at others pensive and heartbreaking.  And Mr. Pantano offers a towering performance, where we never know what he’s going to do next—he goes Flash-fast from party-hardy joyrider to a sullen sad sack looking for love and some kind of meaning.  And then when we’re comfortable in the darkness, he changes course and suddenly the room becomes a strobe-lighted dance club.  It’s a fearless, brave performance, one that needs to be experienced by all adults, not just Friends of Toto. 

You would think the scene where a man is literally stuffed in a dog cage would be funny, but it’s one of the most heart-rending and lonely moments in the show: Hell is being locked in a dog cage where your “owner” can’t let you out because he has fallen asleep on the couch watching “Family Guy.”

This brutally honest, self-examining, emotional and entertaining show is about the modern gay experience: affirming one’s identity and battling homophobia and self-loathing.  “Let me make something clear,” Mr. Pantano states near the end.  “This lecture is not for you—it’s for me.”  Literally.  Pup Play was written as part of his PhD in Theatre Studies (Playwriting) at the University of Essex and has won various awards. 

Is Pup Play for everyone?  No, because as Col. Jessup once noted in A Few Good Men, they can’t handle the truth.  But for the adventurous audience member, or the ones who just admire terrific theatre and the fine art of balls-to-the-wall courageous storytelling, it’s a must.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll bark like a dog.  What more do you want?

Pup Play’s last performance at the Tampa Fringe is Saturday, June 14, at 10:00 PM.  Needless to say, it's for mature audiences, 18+. And it’s not to be missed.

Tampa Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. INTO THE WOODS (St. Petersburg College Theater)

17% of votes

2. 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL (USF Theatre)

9.1% of votes

3. ANYTHING GOES (The Missing Piece Theatre)

8% of votes

Vote Now!