The penis is a many-splendored thing. It's also far, far more flexible than I had ever dreamed. If you've ever mused on the possibilities of a penis, wondering just what it was capable of, look no further. Simon Morley and David Friend have more than 25 "installations" to present—carefully rendered bits of what is known as "genital origami." Yes, beneath their velvet capes these two men shape, yank, and twist their privates until they emerge in a wide array of portraits, touching on the realm of the animal (the hairy-backed turtle, a squirrel in a tree), the fantastical (the Loch Ness monster), even the political (the atomic mushroom cloud and, yes, George Dubya Bush). For those who don't get front-row seats, fear not: A huge video screen projects follicle-revealing close-ups of each work.
All in favor of two strapping men standing onstage in the buck, say "Aye." But is it art? Is there anything that raises it from the level of juvenile dick tricks? We'll get to that in a minute. For dick tricks, they're pretty damned good. Before they begin, the show's two hammy performers ask us, Have we ever had the chance to laugh at a man's penis for a full hour? God willing, most of us haven't been compelled to. Here, however, we can and do. But while this performance does indeed tickle with its all-in-good-dirty-fun pub humor, the show is not without elements of the grotesque. At its core, it's a circus act, and like all good freak shows, it induces both snickers and repulsion. There's only so much scrotum twisting you can watch without wincing. What these gents present is the human body as a strange and occasionally marvelous toy, as something completely demystified. If the body's veil of seriousness and mystery isn't shed because we are watching a man shape his dick into a frill-necked lizard, the video screen has a role to play here as well—projecting pubic hair the size of electrical cable, veins the size of coat racks.
It is, indeed, the polar opposite of The Vagina Monologues—perhaps appropriately so. It's not three women layering their feminine folds in meaning. It's two men stripping the body of all solemnity. It's fun, disgusting, and just plain weird. I am thinking particularly of one work titled "Kentucky Fried Chicken." It doesn't leave you questioning the meaning of gender; these penises don't sermonize. They don't even talk, thank God. Like a good fire-swallower or contortionist, Morley and Friend leave you amazed, amused, and a little grossed out, returning again and again to the central question here: Doesn't that hurt?
"Puppetry of the Penis," presented by and at the Coronet Theatre, 366 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A. Tues.-Thurs. 8 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 7 & 9:30 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Indefinitely. $35.50-39.50. (310) 657-7377.