performer: Bishop Black.
Nestled in the depths of the Salon Zur Wilden Renate beer garden is the Peepshow, a glimpse of a ruby fantasy.
Between the currently closed club and the self-service bar is the peepshow box, so modest from afar you might even miss it on a casual night out drinking beers and smoking. Fortunately, tonight you’re a little more curious, and on second glance you notice little cutouts looking into the box, each with a small vagina plastered underneath and a sign that says ’tilt the slit’. Just before 8:30 p.m., a voice announces to the crowd by megaphone that there are 2 tickets left for the 8:30 p.m. peepshow. Buy one. Buy the other one for your friend if you have five euros spare.
You receive admission on a raffle ticket with a number. Take a seat at your assigned peephole and wait for the show to begin. The music kicks in and the curtain rises, or in this case your flap tilts and sticks to the interior wall with a strip of velcro to reveal the scarlet vision that awaits you.
An artist takes the stage, swaying in the purple-carpeted hovel. And, suddenly, you are no longer in the Renate garden but transported elsewhere. The performer transports you to her world, perhaps to Jack Rabbit Slim for a dance with Mia Wallace, or a magical forest full of unicorns, or the Barbie palace of your childhood dreams. Five minutes later, you leave your peephole and your feet hit the hard earth covering the surface of Berlin. You look around and you are back in the Renate Garden.
Performer: Suki Sky
performer: Cadbury Parfait
Bille Rae, founder and director of Bad Bruises, The House of Red Doors, Weisse Maus Berlin, and co-founder and creator of the immersive theater exhibition Overmorrow, created the Peepshow with her partner Benjamin Strafe and, in the words of Billie, “with a lot of help from our core team of Amazing Souls. Like many of Berlin’s most interesting works of art at the moment, the Peepshow was in part born out of the precariousness caused by the pandemic.” We set it up as a way to create work, jobs and a stage for artists during the corona crisis, “Billie explains. However, she mentions that the Peepshow in its current form is only a draft of a much larger project to come that was in preparation long before the pandemic.
Performer: Jessica Risqué
Performer: Ixa Psyborg
The Peepshow explores the art of performance in some of its most sensual and creative forms. The performances range from “burlesque, the exotic and the erotic, the freakshow and the circus, contortion and magic, poetry, live sex, striptease and much more. And Billie Rae is no stranger to these art forms, having worked as an avant-garde burlesque dancer and 1920s-inspired fire artist for nearly 15 years around the world. She moved to Berlin and in 2016 founded Bad Bruises. “It was intended to create spaces, events and parties that artists, performers and hedonists would want to visit, ”she says. “Also to create safe spaces to explore all themes of desire. We’ve dedicated the entire brand to creating dream worlds and wonderland for like-minded people to get lost – a place surrounded by art, theater, music and of course sex!
Performer: Chiqui Love
performer: Lady Lee
The Peepshow is an isolated but voyeuristic continuation of Bad Bruise’s philosophy with many of the same performers from the legendary House of Red Doors and Overmorrow nights returning to the stage. “We have a very diverse lineup and try to create an evening of entertainment that will always have something different to offer,” says Billie. “Also, now by word of mouth we have a lot of new artists joining us who have come to Berlin specifically to be in the red box. It has become a beautiful extended family.
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Performers: Julietta la Doll and Lexi Is Woke
Performer: Luna Tiktok
You can find the Peepshow most Fridays and Saturdays in the Salon Zur Wilden Renate beer garden (Alt-Stralau 70, 10245 Berlin) from around 8:30 p.m. until late. Performances cost five euros, but you are always welcome to leave a tip. You can follow the Peepshow on their Instagram or website to see where the Little Box of Sin might be in the years to come. We’ll see each other there!
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by Adri
August 3, 2021
at the theatre
