Body So Fluorescent: the dance floor is quicksand
08 Apr 2023

by Drew Rowsome - Photos by Jeremy Mimnagh

Most of us have experienced a night of clubbing that began gloriously and ended ignominiously. That spun off the rails either spectacularly or insidiously. The worst ones include blackouts and/or grievous injury to a friendship. Body So Fluorescent is the uproariously tragic account of such a night. The story unfolds courtesy of three narrators, or two narrators and an alter-ego. We begin in the midst of the action, or a representation of the action, with a warm-up performance by drag performer Sanjina Dabish Queen who, all in glittery red fringe, presents an energetic and athletic lip-synch. Even less shameless than a comedian warming up for a talk show, Queen cajoles and demands applause and energy. And gets it.

After Queen sashays offstage, an initially unnamed character, much theworse for wear after a night out, stumbles onstage, apologizing constantly and profusely. They don't quite remember what happened to end the evening and has come looking for answers as to why their best friend Des is MIA. From there Body So Fluorescent speeds along on a soundtrack of beats and bravado. Often hilarious and frequently disturbing, Body So Fluorescent remains a step ahead, posing more questions than it answers, and resolving the central mystery with ambiguity. There are a lot of ideas packed into the speeding narrative and what seems comical often rebounds to peel away our own assumptions and toss them in our faces.

 
The central concern of Amanda Cordner (Featherweight) and David Di Giovanni becomes issues of cultural appropriation, framed specifically around gay men's emulation of black women. As Dez spits, "You take our men, you take our style, you take our dance moves," without ever experiencing the painful side of systematic racism and misogyny. Body So Fluorescent is an insightful dramatic take on when gay hagiography becomes fetishism and, worse, theft. The play is a roller coaster and while having unhealthy structures challenged is bracing and painful, I doubt there is anyone who would deny that a good portion of the Beyhive is composed of gay men. Or would deny that gay men are convinced that they run the hive. Complicating the argument is the indisputable, and undoubtedly intended, effect of the alter-ego Charisse being the most dynamic and engaging character. Until she isn't and Des takes us in a different and shattering direction. Body So Fluorescent is also a fag hag's lament and, being at Buddies, there was a lot of flinching happening in the audience. 

All of this rests on the capable shoulders, and booty, of Cordner who transcends fluorescent, she is a flaming force of nature. Aided only by subtle light changes (Rebecca Vandevelde) and sound cues (Steven Bowa), Cordner inhabits all three characters fully and distinctly. And ferociously. A nightclubbing outfit of mesh over minimal coverage appears glamorously slutty on Charisse, then tattered and sad a microsecond later. The outer clothing hasn't changed but Cordner has so engaged our perceptions that she seems to have rearranged the fashion molecules for the different characters. Or the same character's perception of themselves. Body So Fluorescent asks to look carefully at how we present and where we draw that from. Cordner's Des builds from a bitter hurt to a terrifying righteous fury to a resignation that is the very definition of the results of systematic racism. Stunningly done. 

Cordner is so good that she carries Body So Fluorescent over some curious choices. The drag opening and interlude exist to allow for a costume change, but don't appear to be aware of how they comment upon the central dilemma. Or perhaps that is meant as a opposing commentary, the contradictory curtain call perfectly sets up an epilogue that is left the audience shaken into silence. And drag is an ultimate form of masking and gender appropriation. It is complicated. I deeply admire being toyed with as our sympathies shifted, as comic characters became tragic and side pieces became central. The dance floor is quicksand. And Body So Fluorescent is just as inexorable, but the sinking is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking and revelatory.