I went to see “Bad Touch : Unsavory Improv” and “Davy Dickrocket” at The Annoyance on tuesday night.
Bad Touch is quite possibly the most disturbing show I have ever seen in my life. The team is a two men, one woman group and the show is basically unrelated freeform and very disturbing short scenes. It is improvised, with the main theme being « disturbing », and deals with topics such as: anal sex with children, handicapped people, immigrants, abortion, rape… explicitly and in detail. I was VERY dubious at first. At some point, the show just messed up my head so bad that the only reaction I was capable of having was laughter, to the point where I was crying with laughter. The scene in question dealt with a handicapped woman getting pregnant, and then deciding to abort by hitting her own womb with her fist. I will probably never be able to get this image out of my head, and that’s what The Annoyance is all about I guess. In the end, I still feel like I have seen some powerful impro and enjoyed the show.
The show was bundled with a four men team, David Dickrocket who presented their signature form « Simon and Garfuckel ». The show was a long-form show, still disturbing but less than the previous one (we got rape and a lot of penis), but with slower, longer scenes, and more connections between strong characters to create one big story which was pretty good. I enjoyed it, but wasn’t as thrilled as I was by the previous show.
We could never present show like this in Paris. Bad Touch came to the Improstival in Paris a few years ago and people still remember an actor burning his pubic hair on stage. I do think however that the impro spectrum is pretty large and it’s good to know someone is « going there », exploring where no one else dares to go.
Here’s a little video of the theater.
[dailymotion x62hck]
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