Live Performance Review - SLUTNIK™ 2: Planet of the Incels

Images courtesy of Sarah Clarke and SLUTNIK™ 2.

The sluts are back with more glitter than ever! 

Normally I wouldn’t enjoy watching Incels for 100 minutes but SLUTNIK™ 2: Planet of the Incels was truly a pleasure to attend. Glitter, go-go boots, sluts, space cowboys, plenty of hip thrusting, ass slapping, and saucy dance numbers - this show is equal parts glamorous and naughty.

I was first introduced to the glitter explosion that is SLUTNIK™ in October of last year during the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Dance numbers, and cannibalistic lesbians, no wonder this show was an audience favourite and sellout at Fringe! The sequel maintains the fun and sexy energy of its predecessor, albeit tackling more confronting themes than just the patriarchy. 

Andromeda (Sara Reed), a descendant of the “evil lesbian” cannibal space crew, and Motherboard (Matilda Gibbs) travel back in time to meet aliens: men. Combating incels (involuntary celibates) with saviour complexes and high levels of toxicity, Andromeda and Motherboard quickly discover why these aliens have been left in the past.

Although incels aren’t generally considered a conventionally attractive community, Motherboard has done the audience a favour by taking the liberty of imbuing her own “design flourish(es)” on their character. Dressed in space-cowboy drag and adorned in metres of fringe, these incels are akin to Magic Mike — if the crew of Magic Mike were self-identified ‘nice guys’ with crippling phone addictions who perform suggestive dance numbers in between posting extremely sexist comments in incel forums... I'm personally not averse to dressing up fictional tragedies in cowboy and go-go boots.

Where Planet of the Incels truly shines is the set design. I sat in my seat staring at a five-metre-tall glitter curtain, the unmistakable glitter-infused insignia of Flick’s creation. Once Motherboard delivered the obligatory content warnings, the glitter curtain opened to reveal a stage half-covered in sand, surrounded by seven TV screens suspended by scaffolding. Throughout the performance, the TV screens display various sci-fi images, videos, and threads from incel message boards. The effect of them combined is a flawless, yet derogatory, collage. Cowboy hats off to whoever synced all the screens to one another!

Unlike SLUTNIK™, its sequel disappointingly lacks the je ne sais quois that is cannibalism. The Incels are treated surprisingly well by the Sluts despite abusing women and attempting human trafficking. Where is the revenge plot?! Where is the cannibalism?! I can only hope that the Sluts got in a good meal at the end of this performance but then again, maybe incels are too toxic to ingest.

SLUTNIK™ 2: Planet of the Incels holds up to the glitter-encrusted acclaim of SLUTNIK™. I’m ecstatic that Flick has expanded the SLUTNIK™ universe; I only wish that Planet of the Incels had more Sluts in it! Despite this qualm, all the actors in this production delivered outstanding performances. I was particularly impressed with the dance numbers featuring jaw-dropping acrobatic stunts and Motherboard’s highly dramatic slut drop in go-go boots! Flick has done it again and delivered us a production with fabulous costuming, choreography, and (of course) Sluts! 

If you enjoy your feminist theory packaged in glitter, fringe, and assless chaps with tiny gold shorts, then don’t miss out on getting a ticket to this out-of-this-world event! 

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SLUTNIK™ 2: Planet of the Incels is showing at Theatre Works from the 7th to the 16th of September. For more info, click here.