This comedy revue is billed as a ‘celebration of (and for) every body’, an admirable theme for our times when people of all genders, persuasions and body types are finding their voice and becoming part of both the #MeToo and #ItGetsBetter movements.
A confusing mix of messages
Skin Deep presents the cast of four men and one woman tackling several body image issues through song, monologues and dance. Subjects covered include the casts problems with spots, height, sexuality and weight with some more numbers about circumcision, dating, Tindr and how high school bullying can lead to suicide. These are subjects well worth addressing but it’s all a little too on-the nose and has the feel of a theatre in education school tour with added smut.
A song about dancing in the semi-nude and another about streaking are well-written and would be lovely interludes in any comedy revue. The performers on these numbers really stand out as having comic timing and charm but it’s too little in what is a confusing mix of messages. I’m baffled when the cast's solution to their collective body image issues is for the men to take a nude selfie and to spend the second half of the show convincing the one outlier that this is the only way to feel confident about themselves. Another song sees the cast gang up and shame another into cancelling their plans to appear in a porn film for, apparently, paid sex work is the taboo too far?
To her credit, host Diana Diamonte has a fantastic voice and is well-served by her solo numbers including her show-stopper finale number but, by this point, I'm ready to leave and no amount of promised full frontal nudity is going to save this show for me. The nudity comes and goes and I don’t really feel that anything has been done to make anyone feel better about their own bodies but the audience, on the whole, seem to enjoy the performance. Perhaps they have fewer hang-ups than me?
