Articulations

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Ratgirl to Brenner: I Got Your Review Right Here!

Artists are rarely timid when it comes to expressing their opinion of a critic's review. They will pick apart the printed piece word by word in the gallery, in the dressing room, backstage, for any fellow artist who will listen. They will write strongly worded letters of protest to whatever rag saw fit to publish the offending broadside. Some will even face down the critic at a party and castigate him or her in front of friends. The thing is, artists make such a habit of responding to critics that the fact of one doing so hardly qualifies as news these days. But every so often, an artist will make his or her feelings about a review known in such an extraordinary way that, well, it is news. This item fits somewhere in the "Man Bites Dog" vein. Ratgirl is the bewhiskered dancer, performer, and social critic who has been seen regularly at the No Shame Theatre shows at the Hideout and around town in the audience for various shows and events. Some have said she resembles the accomplished local actor Stephanie Swenson, but as I've yet seen the two together at the same time I'm unable to verify that comparison myself. In any case, Ratgirl was the host for the recent Vortex Repertory Company workshop production Uncaged. You may have seen her picture in the June 29 Chronicle, right beside a review of Uncaged, penned by Theatre Listings editor Wayne Alan Brenner. Despite the fact that he wrote glowingly about Ratgirl herself, the performer did not care for Mr. Brenner's commentary on the program, and she decided to incorporate a performance piece about the review into the show on Friday. She called the Chronicle beforehand and very politely invited both Brenner and me to the Friday performance of Uncaged. Mr. Brenner was unable to attend himself, but I went. Ratgirl began by telling us that although Mr. Brenner refers repeatedly in the review to a companion, Sylvia, who was with him at the show (and whose observations about the show are the most scathing in the review), he was by himself at the theatre that night. She then took issue with some of the printed comments. Then, she proceeded to show us precisely what she thought of the review. She pulled some tissue out of her waistband, set the paper on the floor, open to the review, pulled down her tights, and squatted over the printed page. Now, perhaps it was the shadow that Ratgirl cast over the paper or perhaps it was my own myopia, but though I had my reporter's gaze trained on the spot, I was unable to determine conclusively whether anything transferred from Ratgirl to the page. Certainly, Ratgirl gave the impression that she was trying to evacuate onto the review, but considering the length of time that she held the position and her comments about the audience looking at her, she may not have succeeded. Perhaps Ratgirl was pee-shy. Of course, as this was a performance piece, she may have only been pretending to be pee-shy in order to make a comment on, I don't know, the voyeurism inherent in audiences and the way it inhibits the artist. Or the way the artist is never able to respond to public criticism in a satisfying manner. I don't know, and I wouldn't want to say. I can say that Ratgirl did eventually pull up her tights, remove the paper, and continue with the show. I'll just say that I've seen many people piss on a review, but never in quite such a literal way. When the event was reported to him on Monday, Mr. Brenner could not have looked more delighted. His face lit up, and he heartily endorsed Ratgirl's action. Anyone wishing to see Ratgirl perform should visit No Shame Theatre, July 7 and 21, 11pm, at the Hideout, 617 Congress.