Fringe review: Nun Slut
Comedian Claire Robin’s debut solo show delivers a biting satire that pierces the veil between sensuality and spirituality. ★★★★
Prior to this March 20 performance of Nun Slut, a disembodied woman’s voice greeted the congregation assembled at Prompt Creative Centre. It spoke of visiting a convent that very day, and describing the premise of Nun Slut to a sister of the cloth. Then, as the Voice spoke once more, it recounted the words of the holy sister in reply: “She said she is praying for us all tonight”. Thus, it was spake; the late-night erotic nun romp was consecrated! Hallelujah!
It is always gratifying to see live art that reaches into the deep recesses of our memories and pulls out an absurd moment from youth for examination, and one notices the sensation rippling through the audience during Nun Slut. Filling various late-night slots at Prompt Creative during the final week of Adelaide Fringe, Nun Slut seeks to pierce the veil between sensuality and spirituality, and ask the question: if indulging pleasure is sinful, why did God make it feel so good?
Throughout Nun Slut, Claire Robin produces a magnetic triptych of biting satire as she weaves several character vignettes depicting clashes between the body and the soul. The youth group leader who agitates pubescent teens by describing his great life and hot wife hits a certain chord with many, as does the peculiar absurdity of the titular character getting extremely aroused by sweeping a portrait of the Lamb of God. Both allow us to contemplate our own carnal experiences within organised religion. There’s a constant underlying soundscape of organ music and hymns played by Aidan McDonough which helps add to the incongruity.
Despite this somewhat provocative portrayal of the sisterhood, Robin is not making an anti-theistic show. The third character she presents – the GetUp activist from Armidale who protests Barnaby Joyce in his NSW electorate of New England – expresses a genuine curiosity about the rituals and symbolism of the Catholic Church. Having been raised Anglican, Robin describes attending Mass on Good Friday to “try it out” and encountering a sheepish Joyce reckoning with his pariah status. Thus, we are called to join in the killer chant: “We are all Barnaby Joyce!”
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Nun Slut broaches several motifs: temptation, persecution, personal liberty, and political hypocrisy. There are some clown sequences that linger too long, and the loose structure does cause some clunky moments, but by delving into an area that can flare sensitivities, Robin skilfully manages to deliver truth through laugh-based communion.
If you’ve ever instinctually responded to “may the Force be with you” with the phrase “and also with you”, you will receive an otherworldly experience at Nun Slut.
Nun Slut concluded at the Prompt Creative Centre on March 23
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