It’s not without some trepidation that I accepted an invitation to the Wank Bank Masterclass. Adam Seymour, aka Rural Ranga, perfected the art of Taoist massage during his stay in New York and has presented this class as a way of improving the art of genital stimulation.
We are ushered into the tent and given a bag containing a laminated sheet full of techniques and a phallic vegetable of sorts. Adam is on stage behind a massage table and reassures us that there will be no nudity, but there will be a circle jerk later.
He begins by explaining the art project. Finding it difficult to pay the rent in New York, he quit his low-paying job at MoMA and focuses on giving “sensual” massages to gay men. He sketched some of these men and created a book called, oddly enough, “Wank Bank”.
Adam is a very funny and engaging guy and soon enough we “get down to business” and he invites an audience member up on stage for the first of the practical demonstrations. A girl volunteers and a vegetable member is positioned appropriately between her legs. He then runs through a few dos and don’ts with massages (including fingernail advice) before beginning with “The Spider” and moving on to “Tree Pose” and “Ringing the Balls”.
With a variety of volunteers and an engaging banter we are well on the way to practicing a good dozen techniques on our vegetable of choice before the finale when we are asked to practice on our neighbour. By this stage we had become like friends and the absurdity of it all didn’t matter.
This is a show for both men and women; it’s funny and informative. One of the odder shows in the Fringe, but well worth a look. If it seems not to your taste there is a sister show called Pussy Play, which is a Masterclass for vaginas. Now I just need to take my Wank Bank bag on my next shopping trip…..
Wank Bank and Pussy Play Masterclasses run until 18th March in the Garden of Unearthly Delights; tickets via ruralranga.com. We reviewed this performance on February 23rd.
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