On the stage of the Soho Theatre in London, British artist Rosa Garland's Primal Bog is an experience that doesn't claim to be liked by everyone.
It's unrestrained, provocative, and covered in slime—in the most literal sense. The show, described as "kink performance art with elements of clowning," includes nudity, bodily fluids, worms, and ironic references to Gwyneth Paltrow.
Garland begins by urinating into a vase and then smears her body with a thick orange paste. She does so under a kind of persona that evokes Paltrow, founder of the “wellness” brand Goop – a symbol of the curated, sterilized feminine elegance to which the show positions itself as a dirty, instinctive counterpoint.
Mud drips from her chin and chest as she performs unexpected gestures: she crashes into a chair, kisses an earthworm, recounts a dream where she joins a community of masochists in the mountains.
The visuals are powerful and often shocking, but the dramatic structure remains slippery. At one point, Garland lies on the floor, listing her desires, while abstract video fragments are projected behind her.
In another scene, she gets a tattoo done live on stage, while a man appears on screen sailing in a canoe. The strangeness and humor of the situations manage to keep the audience engaged – although not always without testing their patience.
Garland has a playful, almost disarming way of moving “through” – neither above nor below – this whole world of filth, dirt, and overflowing sensuality (a brief reference to Michael Rosen adds an ironic note).
The show shares similar interests with other nonconformist Edinburgh Fringe productions, such as Slugs by Creepy Boys.
Primal Bog is not a comfortable experience. It is a slippery dive into the author's psychosexual imagination, where "misbehaving" bodies and strange desires are celebrated rather than analyzed.
Garland proposes a wilder and more honest world than that of the filtered aesthetics of welfare culture – a world that either fascinates or leaves you puzzled. /GazetaExpress/
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