If I had my own awards ceremony, Radiohole would win the GMSC Award for Best Performance Art Group. Even better, they have a new show that I finally got around to seeing last week!

The teaser above is the awesome intro to their new work Whatever, Heaven Allows. The piece attempts to marry the Milton poem Paradise Lost with Douglas Sirk’s glossy drama All That Heaven Allows. I’m sure if you’re not familiar with the group, you’re probably all “omg, that’s s0 rand0m, I can’t imagine it’s anything other than bad postmodern performance!” But you’d totally wrong and your dismissive nature will make you miss out on the best party of a performance you have ever seen! Having seen their last two shows, starting with the landmark Fluke, their work continually delivers on presenting the audience with what I’ll dub a “smart art party.” Go for the free PBR you get with your ticket, stay for the creative association of themes happening through monologue and movement.

The true story here is that it’s not for everyone, and no matter how much I rave about it, there’s a likelihood that you’re not gonna like it unless you have a taste for more extreme avant-garde theater. Probably the most illuminating part of Ben Brantley’s review of Whatever in the New York Times is a quick aside added in parenthetical, “At least I enjoyed it; my theatergoing companions, accustomed to more urbane avant-garde, were not amused.” My fellow theater goers seemed pretty bothered after taking front row seats when, early on into the performance, the entire cast was about five feet away from us throwing shots of chocolate syrup and creamed corn on their face while yelling “Hot sake!” in a piece meant to represent a raucous cocktail party. I couldn’t help but feel like some of my buddies were wondering what I had got them into when the splash back from the various sticky liquids landed on their nice jeans and winter jackets.

But I really enjoyed it! And I think it was the best work I’ve seen of theirs, despite the fact that there wasn’t any explicit nudity (I really was expecting to see some dick and tits and was a little let down…).

The best news? The show at PS122 has been extended through the 21st, so if you have some time go out and get a ticket and show your love for experimental theater. I mean, the guys just won a the Spalding Grey Award so they must be good! (I have never heard of this award about before, but Spalding Grey is great, so the award must be prestigious, right?).

Here’s some videos I found online on their last two shows. Check it out if you need a better sample of these party animals’ particular brand of performance. And if that’s not enough, there’s also the Radiohole Baby Blog, probably the best satirical take on a behind the scenes blog I have ever seen.

Video preview of Anger/Nation, a performance mashing up the themes of Kenneth Anger with temperance crusader Carrie Nation:

A video from Fluke, an awesome re-telling/exploration of the Moby Dick story:

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