NOS

So, while working on yesterday’s "naked opera" blog, I discovered a new (to me) acronym: NOS. It stands for “Nude On Stage”.

There are fans, lists, web threads. Here’s one: nakedonstage.forumfree.it. However, sometimes these threads devolve into movies with some nude scene or set in a strip club.

I’m a fan of nudity, and a fan of live stage performance—music, theatre, dance—so I’m certainly a fan of the idea of on stage nudity. Haven’t seen any nude opera performances, that I recall. But I have seen some onstage nudity...that didn’t involve a pole. I mean, I’ve seen that too.

I saw a production of God’s Country (at least, I think it was God’s Country, by Steven Dietz) in which there was, at the end of act 1, an unnecessary, super-brief, topless girl. I don’t think it had anything to do with the play or the scene. And if you weren’t looking at the right part of the stage for those couple of seconds, you’d never know it happened.

I saw a production of Bent by Martin Sherman. The script indicates there’s a naked guy in one scene, but this production had another naked guy in another scene. But in the context, it made sense. Great play, by the way, if you don’t know it. There’s also a movie version which is good. But I think I prefer the play. It’s more gutsy, visceral.

I’ve seen Equus, which has some nudity. Also a really cool play, and there’s a movie of it too. (By the way, a recent-ish production stared Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter movie fame. Yes, he was naked. And yes, apparently you could totally see his “wand”.)

Anyway...

I’ve seen a couple of dance pieces that had nudity. One of them was at a dance festival, and the point of the “nudity” seemed to be something like, “ha-ha, we’re naked ladies back here, way upstage, but you’ll never know for sure, as we slowly inch across stage seated, and facing upstage. But, oh yeah, we’re naked. Heh-heh.” It was just a short part of medium-length piece, and seemed to me kinda pointless, really. The other piece was a longer work about the 7 Deadly Sins, and had some bits of nudity here and there, as well as a more extended solo and duet.

So... Sometimes onstage nudity is pertinent to the work—the play or dance or whatever. And sometimes it’s not; it’s more “hey, let’s have some nudity here”.

Now, I’m all for nudity, whether it’s making a point or if it’s more recreational in nature. But, I think onstage nudity in some works can be...inappropriate. That’s not a word I like much, when it comes to life—people interacting with each other and that sort of thing. But, I feel strongly that in an artistic work there can be choices that are not appropriate for that piece. Now, if the point of the piece is to shock, then great, shock away. But to insert something for shock value, or for your own personal/political/social/etc. agenda that doesn’t pertain to the work is inappropriate. That’s not to say one can’t find new and different ways to present some existing work. But don’t superimpose some idea or element that doesn’t make sense and can’t be justified by what’s already in the work—in the script or score or whatever.

As a professional singer friend of mine put it:

“...throwing naked bodies onstage just to have naked bodies and shock the audience is disgusting. There's a fine line between tastefully done and just doing it because you want to do it. It's like baking a cake. Do you take your time? Measure the ingredients, mix them well and then decorate it beautifully? Or do you just throw all of the shit into the oven and hope a beautiful cake comes out?
There has to be thought and meaning into why there is a naked body onstage.”

Okay, rant over.