Strangely, the Oh! Calcutta we are going to talk about has almost nothing to do with the city.
Today, whenever we hear the name Oh! Calcutta, probably the first thing that comes to our mind is the city or the famous restaurant of the same name. But we are neither going to talk about the restaurant nor are we going to talk about the city.
This Oh! Calcutta is the controversial revue, that shocked the world with its on-stage nudity.
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical that combines music, dance and short plays. The world had not seen anything like this before. It was probably for the first time that audience were witnessing on stage nudity on such a large scale.
The title has been taken from the famous painting by the French artist Clovis Trouille. The title is a word-play on the French phrase “O quel cul t’as” meaning “what an ass you have”.
The painting shows the tattooed behind of a well-endowed young lady. The painting seems to be an apt inspiration for a production that shows so much nudity. This 1970’s production was that era’s version of an adult sex comedy.
The controversial avant-garde revue had several sex-related sketches by people like Samuel Beckett, John Lennon, Sam Shepard, Leonard Melfi, Edna O’Brien and Jules Feiffer.
The performance consisted of many short acts or segments called sketches. The prologue of this controversial theatrical was written by none other than famous playwright, Samuel Beckett. You might be surprised to know that there is a small segment towards the end called Four in a Hand, which shows a person who can’t seem to think of anything to masturbate to, was initially written by John Lennon.
The entire performance is divided into two major acts containing almost 14 small segments.
The first act has 8 small segments including the prologue, while the second act had 6 segments or sketches. Most of the sketches dealt with adult humour and sexual topics. There are also a couple of segments which had nude dances by the performers.
It has a small segment called Jack and Jill, where they show Jill is in a coma after being raped by Jack.
The performance courted a lot of controversies, not only because of its nudity but also because of its subject. You can find the presence of nudity in almost all the acts or segments. Many cities had banned the pay-per-video production of the show.
The production received both praise and criticism. Many people felt that on-stage nudity was disgusting and shameful.
Many people were against it because they felt that nudity leaves nothing to the imagination. Still, most of the people who watched the show, absolutely it. They found the show was not only hilarious but also quite meaningful.
It ran for more than ten years, clocking up 3,918 performances. It is also one of the longest-running productions ever on Broadway, after shows like “Chicago,” “A Chorus Line” and “The Lion King.”
It is interesting to know that though the theatrical had full frontal nudity still it was not considered in any way vulgar or obscene and therefore it was allowed to be performed without any restrictions. Quite ironically it was two London headmistresses who gave the show a clean chit. And the rest, as they say, is history. It went on to become one of the most successful Broadway productions ever.
What actually amazes me is the fact that way back in 1970, somebody had the courage to perform a play like this. A kind of guts and courage which quite rare even till this day.