“My Neighbor Having Loud Sex With His New Girlfriend 2: Banging on The Walls” is a unbelievably unexpected and fresh performance, piggybacking on the audience gained during the initial performance of “My Neighbor Having Loud Sex With His New Girlfriend 1: It Ended With Crying.” The emotional depth that was present in the first performance of this “flash-mob” influenced “performance-in-a-place-where-one-does-not-usually-hear-performance” performance is all but gone in this divisive sequel that favors over-the-top action, an urban-inspired soundtrack, and memorable quotes such as “Fuck, kiss me you asshole” and “I think the condom broke.”
Typically when one is subjected to one of these random acts of performance art you are immediately taken aback by the mere fact that the performance is happening– not so much attention is payed to the content of the performance itself. Fool me once– shame on you; fool me twice– shame on me. This new performance in what seems to be an ongoing series recognizes that the mere fact that it is happening, it’s existence, is no longer exciting enough to carry the performance on it’s own. So, in an incredible move showcasing the performer’s self-awareness, the production went full 1980’s action movie and cranked the visceral, palatable, and animal nature of the performance to 11, blowing past all previous speculation on the content of the sequel. Not to mention that this performance threw the fleeting notion of human decency out the window, as it was performed during campus 24/7 quiet hours.
This extreme tonal shift in the series showcases that the creator is not too scared to experiment with new ideas, moving in new and unexpected directions in order to keep the audience on edge. However this may prove to be the performance series’ undoing– as a fan of the first performance in the series and it’s way of taking a sad situation and making it rip roaring hilarious as a bystander, this performance was much less subtle in it’s comedy and seemed to constantly swipe at low-hanging fruit, pun intended. This new style has the potential to reach a much wider audience but at the risk of alienating the performance series’ established fanbase.
It will be interesting to see in which direction the series moves towards in the future. My hope is that the performances will garner international attention, attracting Hollywood superstars such as Jack Black (known for “School of Rock” and “Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny”) and Ethan Hawke (known for “Reality Bites” and “The Purge”) who gravitate to this sort of independent, art-focused content. The evolution will be fascinating, that is guaranteed.
-Brendan C. Bush, co-owner and contributor at Heck Media
Heck Media 