Roaring Lolita in Stallion Ball ends up very small#tf2010

The room is lit in red. This creates a shadowy atmosphere as you might expect at a nightclub. The music starts playing and from the stairs a young lady in a snappy outfit comes down. She serves pieces of sausage and plays with the crowd. She introduces herself as Lolita. A man in the front row may unbutton her zip. She dances defiantly.

Sensual with a rough edge. This is how Francesca Wagenaar graces the cover of the Fringe Festival's programme paper. There is an exuberant atmosphere on Saturday afternoon as Wagenaar's Stallion Ball, incorporating texts by Sarah Kane and Elfride Jelinek, is about to begin. Two doors swing open and through a staircase I descend.

I hear laughter from the audience. But when I look around me, I also see anxious, questioning looks. Where is this going, I too think, as Lolita roars loudly "suck, suck, suck". And at the moment when I have long since had enough of this provocative act, Lolita's role changes. She slowly gets dressed again. Suddenly there stands a girl who craves love and is willing to do anything to get it. Her poetic phrases are in stark contrast to the sexist expressions of a few minutes earlier. The turnaround does the performance good; the play becomes interesting. Yet above all, the sexy, challenging and over the top played Lolita hang around and you almost forget the little, searching girl behind Lolita. A man looks back entranced as he climbs the stairs again.

Stallion Ball can still be seen until 11 September 2010.

Seen at The New Anita, Saturday, September 4.