The Front

WARNING: The following article, the links it contains, and the events it describes are not intended for the eyes of minors, the weak of heart, or the easily excitable. In other words, it should only be read by people 18 years or older, and it is NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

_{The Maids of Villa Salò.}

Somewhere in the streets of Østerbro, a quaint upper middle class suburb of Copenhagen famous for its parks and its tourist trap statue of The Little Mermaid, a heinous orgy of excess and wrongdoing is about to begin. No, not a metaphorical orgy, an actual round-the-clock, wall-to-wall, ball-to-ball orgy, the likes of which would bring warm fuzzy feelings to the wretched heart of the Marquis de Sade himself – and you’re invited!

Villa Salò is a performance piece and art installation based on the 1975 Pasolini film Salò, which is in turn based on 120 Days of Sodom. Composed while the Marquis de Sade was imprisoned in the Bastille, he considered it his finest work. It tells the quixotic tale of four older gentlemen who, together with four middle-aged prostitutes and 8 “fuckers”, delight in the highly perverse rape, torture, and ritual sacrifice of every human being in sight, including their own children. The Pasolini film preserved these themes, but changed the the setting – instead of taking place in the 17th century, it takes place in Italy during the reign of Mussolini.

_{The original manuscript of 120 Days of Sodom.}

This will be reproduced theatrically at the Villa Salò, a large house outfitted with extravagant decor specifically for this performance. All the characters are there (though thankfully the children aren’t actually children, but adults acting as Jungian archetypes of children), scattered about the house, engaging in all manners of perverse acts. Audience members are greeted at the door by pleasant maids and brutish fuckers, and are then allowed to roam from room to room of the house observing the performance. There is no script, but there is a vague plot – 4 middle-aged women who run a brothel have been unable to pay their landlords, and will lose the property unless they are able to satisfy all their sick desires. Given that most of the original novel was literally just a list of foul acts hurriedly scrawled on what resembles a roll of toilet paper by a man on his way to the insane asylum, it is unlikely that Villa Salò will be remembered as a masterpiece of tragedy and plot. However, it does score points for audience interaction. The following excerpt is a translation of Monna Dithmer’s review of the play from the Danish news site politiken.dk

“Why should I watch a young girl being gang-raped by seven men until she’s nothing but a moaning lump of meat with bloody nether regions? The sickening discomfort has not left me yet, days after my visit to Villa Salò, the house of horrors. An overwhelming, seductive type of total theater, which pushes the boundaries of what can be considered theater. It is hard not to be affected by what I allow myself to be part of among the audience, outside of the play as well. …

The groundbreaking performance group Signa – which has won international acclaim for its interactive shows – has made sure that the excesses extend to the audience as well, as it becomes part of the show. Oh dear! …

We weren’t exactly accessories to the great penetration ourselves, but it was certainly live and right in our faces. And perhaps we could have joined in or done something to prevent it? One thing is certain, however: the era of safely seated audiences is over.“

The same Danish newspaper is also kind enough to grace us with a video. Perhaps surprisingly, this clip doesn’t look like an excerpt from Grand Theft Anal 6, and demonstrates that there is artistic and theatrical merit to this project. And there’s no reason to think otherwise. High art and hardcore sex are an intense pairing, but they fit delicately and smoothly together, like a veal shank and a glass of Pinot noir, like cats and the internet, like a gloved fist and a bloody anus. Besides, the works of Passolini and de Sade make Grand Theft Anal 6 look like a routine visit to a proctologist’s office, so there’s plenty of room for the cast of Villa Salò to add creative flourishes of dialogue and non-sexual behavior.

A sample of soliloquy from the Villa’s website:

“… for months we have stayed here in the villa already, slowly descending – or did we stumble? This road is not a safe one. We recognize in ourselves the victims and the perpetrators so absurdly alike, and yet never to be reconciled. We do not allow ourselves to rest at the sidetracks of hope, or run back home. We spend our days daring to distrust the human race and yet vowing to trust each other as we walk into the emptiness. Matter of factly, we discuss means of degradation, the ones we will apply to make hell come seen, we rehearse the pounding of flesh against flesh on dirty carpets, we rehearse words of betrayal, cries of pain, we even measure out pain itself – how much should we really hurt to conjure up the inferno of Salò?“

Admission costs 195 Danish kroner (about $35), and allows you to explore the house for a few hours. However, for an additional 20 DKK ($3.75) the guests are allowed to re-enter at any time during the rest of the performance, which lasts for 5 days at a time. There are four rounds of performance, respectively titled ‘Circle of Mania’, ‘Circle of Shit’, ‘Circle of Tears’, and ‘Circle of Blood’.

For further information, visit the performance’s website. (Note: this is not advised.)