Beat Magazine, April 13, 1994

Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!
by Melissa McArdle

Penny Arcade ran away from reform school at the age of fourteen to join the gay ranks on the streets of New York. After an extensive education in the most diverse aspects of life (including interactions with Warhol and professional theatre at seventeen) she has compiled her experiences into a profound comedy act now showing at the Universal Theatre.

Joined on stage by a troupe of exceptional erotic dancers from both America and Australia she relays a tale unlike that presented by most participating in the festival. Laced with material that is by all means anti-cliche, Penny Arcade packs a punch that is real. Her hour and a half is one of the few acts that doesn't disassociate itself from the prescribed political reality of these times.

She initially bases her material on the sex industry; giving her audience a satirical view on the truth of prostitution. She mentions the impact of foreign cultures on the American market, crude as it may seem, the fact remains that it has an impact on the economic faction of working women.

Penny Arcade's material then progresses through the political functions imposed on the general public. She challenges the institution and its pre imposed criteria, as well as her audience accepting this as reality. Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore! is a rare performance in which you emerge feeling expansive. It breaks down cultural and social barriers.