Dangerous Theatre of Denver Colorado presented Deviant Behaviors at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival. I went into the show with no per-conceptions. This was a one woman show in which Winnie Wenglewick explains how she discovered sadomasochism. As a small child she discovered her dads porn stash underneath a dresser drawer. The only way to get at the porn was to pull the drawer completely out. She was almost caught by her father, but she manged to fling the magazines under his bed as he walked into the bedroom. She began to cry an in his efforts to comfort her, he never stopped to ask what she was doing.
She discovered sexual pleasure at a very early age but also felt guilt. Much of the show involved explaining masochism. She felt that most peoples view of masochism is skewed the the tepid Fifty Shades of Gray book and movie. Masochism is the tendency to derive pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from one’s own pain or humiliation. She lead a rather normal life, getting married and having kids. Later in life however, a man introduced her to masochism and she was hooked. Experiencing pain in a safe environment could help her forget the many responsibilities she had. Eventually, she went on to found her own dungeon. She will be moving back to Orlando later this summer. Orlando now has a dungeon called The Woodshed. She will be
opening another Dangerous Theatre in Orlando.
Towards the end of the show an older man with long blonde hair walked onto the stage holding leather whips. He whipped Winnie’s back, softly at first and then harder with each thrash. She verbalized her many complaints as she was being whipped. This was certainly one of the strangest theatrical experience I’ve had. I learned quite a bit about an alternate lifestyle. If there are dungeons in Orlando, I just might get off on sketching people in pain. Perhaps this could be defined as sketch masochism.
