I walked into Fat Sex! Steve Larkin’s body…of poems and songs knowing that I was in for an evening of spoken word poetry and that’s what I got. Lolita’s Lounge is a cozy venue and who doesn’t love being able to grab a beverage during the show?
The title of the piece led me to believe that I would be hearing poetry that had to do with the physical body and the insecurities of said body being imperfect by society’s standard. The show poster of Larkin’s head atop a women’s body in a form fitting dress further solidified this impression. However there was only one poem that supplied this and the rest while political in nature had little to do with body image.
Parts of Larkin’s performance indicated that he is a relaxed confident and engaging performer but his performance Monday night was uneven and at times seemed a bit strained. He was most interesting when he was talking to us directly stopping in the middle of a song to make sure we had enough background information before returning to his singing.
Good performance to me is a balance between recognition and surprise. Too much surprise and the audience can’t hook in. Too much recognition and we lean towards boredom. While his words are sharp and well crafted he didn’t say anything that hasn’t been said before nor did he say it with a fresh perspective. While entertaining I didn’t come away with anything memorable.
This will appeal to lovers of spoken word poetry mandolin and poetry as well as those who enjoy well articulated political jabs and think that live performance is far more entertaining then television. Fat Sex! is showing as part of the Calgary Fringe Festival .
