The one about the sex addict

I frequently visit and post on a website called Talkin Broadway, which is a message board to discuss theatre and Broadway. Check it out here http://www.talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat . Some of these people are freaks, but I love it. I know, it's pretty queer. Anyway, someone posted on the message board requesting feedback on a show in London called Tim Fountain: Sex Addict. Someone posted back saying that he was a 22 year old homosexual and he and his friends had seen it and were really offended by the show. So, naturally, I had to visit Tim Fountain's website to see what the fuss was about.

So, here is what I learned.

Tim Fountain: Sex Addict is a performance piece that is being presented at the very prestigious Royal Court Theatre in London. And this is what happens during the show. There is a website, http://www.timfountainsexaddict.com where you log in and create a profile with a picture, like an online personal ad. When the show starts, people who have online profiles go into a chat room where they can chat with Tim. Then, Tim asks who wants to shag tonight. Then, he'll ask who wants to call him tonight. Then the audience, who this is all happening in front of, chooses someone for Tim to shag. Tim, then gives the person a telephone number and they call in to the show and he talks to them. This is repeated with several people calling in. You are asked where you live and if you live too far away then the audience can't vote for you. But, if you live close enough to the theatre or Tim's apartment, you can be in the running. But you will need to be able to meet up with Tim within an hour and get home after the shag. Then, Tim asks the audience if anyone in the theatre wants to shag. Finally, the audience votes on who gets the shag. The winner is then given Tim's phone number, I think, or his address or you give him your address, and the meeting is arranged for that evening. Now, I think that Tim videotapes the encounter, as it was alluded to on the website and I guess he shows it to the audience the next night. Though I'm not sure about this last part. You can go on the message boards on the website and read Tim's review of his shags as well as review's of Tim's...umm...performance by people he has shagged.

Ok, is this the most fucked up thing, ummm...I don't know...ever? I'm not sure whether to be repulsed or turned on. Both perhaps? Part of me thinks I would totally do this, though my friend Moss thinks I'm much to modest. He's right. I guess that this is an interesting social commentary about the blurring of personal and private, simply exposing (pun intended) sexual behavior that is incredibly common and creating a forum to discuss and, I guess, celebrate it. Something about this seems so liberating. I don't know. And it's not the idea of disease that frightens me about this, it's the danger Tim is putting himself in. The producer part of me is terrified of the insurance and legal issues that might arise out of this.

Ok blogging friends out there, would you participate in this? And do you think this would go over well in America? I imagine it won't be long before Fountain makes it to our shores.