Review: TESTO, Battersea Arts Centre

Performed by Wet Mess, TESTO probes themes of identity through voices male, voices female, voices auto-generated with body shape and body parts, all up for grabs. These are all closely examined, physically as well as theatrically, with a strong, vibrant visual style that draws from many art forms. 

At times the performance is balletic, exotic, even neurotic, with a narrative both linear and non-linear. It moves in a quixotic manner through a series of provocative images, and if at times it is tricky to appreciate, this ensures it things are never mundane. The body is used not only as a means of entertainment, encouraging a voyeurism, but almost as an installation, demanding to explore and display what it means to be, or not be. Surreal challenges are encountered at times as body parts are used both as proof of and contradiction of self. 

A zany soundscape, stuffed elongated phallus props and strobes create shadows that blur. In moments of complete darkness there is stillness, things stir and squirm against a pre-recorded vocal tapestry that is at once tangible yet indistinct: very queer indeed. 

Recorded dialogue is lip-synced and elaborate gestures and facial expressions echo drag routines. The opening (the very word is loaded in this performance) is through a red, creased cavity where a dimly lit figure squeezes out to deliver a message with a seemingly floating, neon-lit digital message bar telling us this is not a dream but a show. The scrolling information moves to the absurd, telling of bread and buttered hands of boys and rooms engulfed, greased, making us wonder if it is a dream – only for the TESTO ‘boys’ or not?  Wet Mess draws an audience in with visual antics while creating a sense of alienation, and it is clever stuff.

The performer is revealed with red chequered face and shaven head, extravagantly dressed in cloak and tight-fitting clothes, agile and horny, as the pre-recorded and live vocal mix tell us that it is all about testosterone. This fit looking person can gyrate, grunt and groove – with TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy) you are ready to go! Straight down the catwalk we move, only to discover the long worm-like stuffed phallus pulled on again and again to form legs, a cushion or cape, certainly something to be enveloped by. The controlled and well-crafted exaggerated moves cause the audience to laugh or whoop in delight. 

We become aware: things are not real, not fixed. There are many voices within us. The chequered, painted face hides a real identity, as does the six pack, slowly appearing to be something of an illusion too. Shirtless, this torso of muscle is stretched to reveal the hairy armpits of the ‘boy’, with a tension hiding within it at times. Then slowly twisting, stretching as the latex six-pack top is pulled over the head to reveal breasts and womanly curvy hips, someone else is clearly revealed. This is a brilliant visual action to remind us we are not what we seem and that the outside does not necessarily reflect what lies beneath. More is then uncovered as the vagina takes centre stage in competition with Testo boy, creating a tension and fear of fluidity.

TESTO is a visually and at times a vocally poetic exploration of moments of self-discovery. All performances are relaxed, meaning the audience can move or make noise if they need to and can go in and out of the performance space. The audience clearly were impressed as dreams and reality became increasingly blurred because everything was in transition, fluid and queer – so relax!

Produced by: Nancy May Roberts & Lucia Fortune-Ely, Metal & Water
Collaborator and Production Coordinator: Miz Barber
Costume Design by: Lambdog1066
Sound Design by: Baby
Set Design by: Ruta Irbīte
Lighting Design by: Joshie Harriette
Dramaturgy by: Travis Alabanza

TESTO plays at Battersea Arts Centre until 22 February.