By Jake Prinsen
Want to know where you can find spankings, whips, sadomasochism and comedy? Before you ask, no Bozo the Clown hasn’t started working part-time as a dominatrix, but for the second year in a row the Young Auditorium is presenting “Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody.”
Hailed by critics in the U.S. and Canada, “Spank” is a theatrical performance that parodies the best-selling erotic romance novel, “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
“Spank” brings an absurdity of the novel to real life with musical numbers, raunchy jokes and PG-13 humor.
Audience members can also expect to see “sexy striptease performances from the leading hunk, and lots of surprises,” according to spankshow.com.
The cast is experienced in the field, as their combined accreditations include a former mascot for the Toronto Blue Jays and a winner of the Best New Male Performer in Strip Search 2010.
Amanda Barker, an actress in the production, plays E.B. Janet. For those who are not familiar with all the hues of grey, Barker plays the author. She said the performance is more than just a parody of the erotic novel.
“It’s a spin-off of pop-culture, but it’s also a really fun celebration of women and women’s sexuality,” Barker said. “It’s also a great girl’s night out.”
Barker has been on tour with “Spank” for more than two years and has acted since she was age 2.
Although her favorite part of touring is seeing various sites around the U.S. and Canada, Barker said her favorite part of acting is the connections she gets to make with audience members.
“When we play at universities, a lot of girls say, ‘I just finished my last midterm, I needed to go out and have a wonderful time and release’,” Barker said. “Getting to connect with those women and give them the show they deserve is a true blessing.”
Stacy Sherman, marketing specialist for the Young Auditorium, said the production uses distinctive stage antics to make people laugh.
“It’s a comedy, a little bit of a raunchy comedy,” Sherman said. “They use jokes and interactions that play off of some of the more well-known scenes from “the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ book.”
Sherman also noted this is the second year that “Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody” has come to UW-Whitewater. She said the production drew a such a large crowd last year that they decided to bring it back.
“We decided to go ahead and try it again here because it was so popular and people had such a fun time,” Sherman said. “It would be something that you could see more than once, but there were plenty of people who didn’t get a chance to see it the first time.”
The performance is set to take place at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 at Young Auditorium. For students, tickets prices range from $9.75 to $36.50. For the public, prices range from $19.50 to $36.50.
For more information about the “Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody” visit www.spankshow.com.
