Peekaboo Maxime Dreesen
Talking about sex without showing sex
The first time I heard about 'Peekaboo', the teaser line read: “Drawing from non-binary cruising culture, Max Dreesen turns the stage into a sexual playground.” A sexual playground? In a theatre? That’s enough to set a few thoughts racing. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I half-feared something murky, maybe awkward. But it was neither.
The beginning feels oniric almost like a smokey lucid dream. A multicolored set filled with giant inflatable fruit, an ethereal voice straight out of an erotic meditation app like Femtasy, and a narrator dressed as a clown who bluntly declares, “Sex is the best thing there is!”
'Peekaboo' pulls off the challenge of talking about sex without showing sex. At one moment, the performers play rock-paper-scissors to challenge each other to experiment with sensual practices. At other times, they are all almost naked in the same bathtub and enjoy group relaxation.
The line between play, mime, and suggestion leaves room for the imagination. The performers don’t speak. The dialogue becomes the one we invent for ourselves. And yet, the sounds (lips, breath, exaggerated expressions) make the scenes strikingly explicit.
Making non-normative sexuality visible
“It’s like oysters or foie gras, it’s for connoisseurs”, the mischievous narrator remarks. Stepping off the beaten path, exploring kinks, and simply portraying playful, joyful group sexuality.
The performers (Drag Couenne/Adrien De Biasi, Courtney May Robertson, Birame, Benne Dousselaere & Maxime Dreesen) are undeniably talented. Dance, striptease, lip-sync, all staples of queer culture, are woven throughout. It feels like cabaret, complete with live music and a series of vivid tableaux flowing one into the next.
'Peekaboo' offers a prism of radical joy rooted in a niche world, without preaching or self-pity.
'Peekaboo' offers a prism of radical joy rooted in a niche world, without preaching or self-pity. And to the killjoys who might want to shove everyone back into the “established order,” beware, you might find yourselves caricatured on stage. 'Peekaboo' refuses to be policed.
It’s a bold gamble that unsettles polite conventions, a performance that asks who gets to show what, and a glimpse into the world of cruising culture. 'Peekaboo' is, without a doubt, a singular piece that takes cabaret out of its usual space and plants it firmly in the theatre. Whether you like it or not, this performance leaves no one indifferent. For me, that's what theatre should always be.
CW: partial nudity, spitting, scat play, police violence
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