Lucy McCormick’s Post Popular Is Exquisite Filth
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In a 2019 Guardian interview, Lucy McCormick spoke of her ethos as a performance artist: ‘I don’t stop until someone tells me I’ve gone too far.’ From any other artist, this might sound glib or self-aggrandising, insincere. But from McCormick, if anything it’s an understatement.
Known for her subversive performance art developed on the queer club scene, McCormick revels in the grotesque and gleefully penetrates the fourth wall. Her previous show at Soho Theatre (Triple Threat) had her reenacting the New Testament and included live dildo penetration within 5 minutes. For McCormick, there is no dialling back or reigning in, only the impulse to push more boundaries and one-up herself. Naturally, Post Popular sees live rimming within the first three minutes.
This show goes further not only in explicitness, but also incisiveness of cutting social comment. This time, McCormick’s ‘historical reenactment’ presents the stories of notable women in history: Eve, Boudica, Anne Boleyn and Florence Nightingale.
A consummate performer, McCormick is never just shocking for the sake of it, always wry, hilarious and subversive. Though it almost goes without saying that this show is not for the prudish. It’s glorious to see a performer with such formidable talent using it for utter fuckery.
Lucy McCormick: Post Popular, Soho Theatre, Dean Street, W1D 3NE. Tickets from £13.50, until 22 February 2020.
Last Updated 14 February 2020
