Penile Puppetry Suffers Premature Closure

The outrageous adult cabaret show, Puppetry of the Penis, has posted early closing notices at the Whitehall Theatre. The show, in which two males perform the “ancient Australian art of genital origami”, opened at the West End theatre on 20 September 2000 (previews from 18 September) for a limited five-week season, but following an extension announced in October, it had been booking to 9 February 2001. It will now close on 6 January 2001.

Puppetry of the Penis features two well-endowed Australian men, Simon Morley and David Friend, who manipulate their genitalia into various shapes, objects and landmarks. Amongst their popular penile impressions are The Hamburger, The Windsurfer, The Loch Ness Monster and The Slow-Emerging Mollusc. Though the Whitehall is small by West End standards, the staging ensures that no one could possibly miss a thing. A video camera projects all the intimate details onto a large on-stage screen.

Prior to London, Puppetry of the Penis had a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. West End producers, David Johnson and Richard Temple, saw the show in Edinburgh and quickly realised the “boys” had a hit in their hands when the woman sitting next to them wet her pants during the Kentucky Fried Chicken impression.

Puppetry of the Penis had its debut at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in 1998. A subsequent sell-out season in Sydney led to a national tour of Australia. Negotiations are now afoot for a UK tour and additional European engagements.

Due to the obviously rather risqué material, Puppetry of the Penis is for adults only. It includes full-frontal male nudity, albeit of a non-sexual nature.

Related Content