Naked on stage

This week, I spent more of my evenings in the theatre than on the couch due to the Week of Slovenian Drama, a week of Slovenian theatre celebrated every year. On Saturday, I spent a good three hours there, and sometimes, my thoughts were unintentionally escaping from the performance. But not too far away from the auditorium, I was thinking about what it's like to stand naked on stage. 

Likely, you who go to the theater have already seen at least one scene when, most often, an actor slowly undresses on the stage and, miraculously, does not stop at his underwear. I have seen dangling dangles in the theater several times, but I remember a performance where male actors wore Adam's costumes and were all on stage together. The scene left me open-mouthed, not because of the length of their props but because of the people's disapproval in the auditorium. The two ladies sitting in front of me were outraged. They wondered why this was necessary in the play and precisely what the creators wanted to achieve. On the contrary, I had a splendid time. I was watching a cultural striptease for a few minutes. 

One of the Slovenian most well-known actors, Marko Mandic, is considered a stripper in Slovenian theatre. He undressed so often that people joked that only women ever went to his shows. But he didn't stop stripping down and showing his naked body. He even masturbated on stage during the show. But even for an actor, doing it for the first time is probably tricky. As with any new challenge on stage, the actor feels a certain amount of pressure. I assume that if you are more shy by nature, undressing on stage, let alone doing something else, is not easy. But what is it like to masturbate on stage and still be in the character that is struggling with impotence? If I were a man, it would be impossible for me. Speak text, jerk off, and make sure that the erection falls at precisely the right moment of the performance. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the audience was still not ready for nudity, so there were interruptions to performances, people leaving the auditorium, and even monetary fines. 

Nudity as a tool of artistic expression has been in the theater since ancient Greece. Abroad, they tried to abolish nudity on stage in the last century, but it persisted. Many laws and amendments have been written about theatrical nudity and the protection of the actor. In America, for example, nudity must not be requested in auditions, actors must agree in writing to scenes in which their nude body is the only costume, and a performance containing such scenes must not be filmed.

The first play or musical, which contained many nude scenes, is mistakenly considered the musical (Hair), which premiered in 1968. Although this show was probably the most famous, the one that first experimented with nudity was Oh! Calcutta! . But even the latter, according to some testimonies, didn't get the first nude prize. Already during the Second World War, several shows were performed in the West End, which, in one way or another, contained nudity, mostly female actresses. But the West End was nothing compared to New York's Broadway. There, nudity was already standard on stage between 1907 and 1930.

However, despite advanced thinking about nudity on stage, the theatre caused quite a few scandals and even court visits. Several times, some actresses sued their co-stars for sexual violence on stage. Later, men began to lead in the nudity on stage, which is still the case today. Women's naked bodies are reserved for film, men's for theatre. 

Today, it is time for theater again. I can't help but think that maybe this time, one of the actors will throw away a cotton piece and show some bare skin. Perhaps he will stand proudly in front of an audience that will turn away in shame, and people will murmur in their beards; only my gaze will remain attached to the actor. My face will remain deadly serious, and a movie will start playing in my head, where everything intertwines. Some shame that I would feel instead of the person on the stage and myself, staring at him motionless and evaluating his naked body.