'Sex Western' titillates at Henry Miller Library in Big Sur.

What a treat it was. There are not many venues in Monterey County that would gather a laid back, bohemian crowd ready to explore human sexuality on stage without making a big deal about it—yet being ready to see and hear sex as art on its own rights, with its own aesthetics of gesture, sound, taste and smell.

Sex Western, a play based on erotic poems by Big Sur writer Jake Luce was shown Friday, March 21 at the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur—a one-night-only, open-air world premiere.

Even though the event was much more than a performance, let’s start with what happened on stage, where many beds were brought in and taken out—including one bathtub—as the setting of the poet’s wildest dreams. Luce’s sensual poems were brought alive by a group of actors and dancers, from amateurs to professionals, who were not shying away from nakedness in this erotic bacchanalia, bringing to mind the mad procession of Dionysus, or the Eleusinian Mysteries, this most famous of the secret rites in ancient Greece.

Sex Western’s eros played out on the big plane of nature, god-like mountains and deep, wet forests, not unlike those the audience was surrounded by. Even if performed in a motel room—another iconic setting for romance—sex seemed free and wild and not having much to do with the socially acceptable goal of procreation.

Luce is a bard of powerful feminine sexuality, plumpness of naked flesh and the “ability to fuck deeply.” All the scenes, each a one-act play without fixed plot but full of symbols, were connected only by the voice of the lyrical subject, who nested himself in an armchair at the left front corner of the stage with a pair of white panties hanging on his microphone.

Dressed warmly for a cold forest night, the public was thrilled, surprised, entertained and provoked by the presentation, whistling and making animalistic sounds of approval. Blankets, hats and gloves were soon dropped in the face of the steamy content on stage. Minutes between the acts, devoted to changes in setting, let the event create its own energy and transformed the show into a true party, allowing for conversations and wine drinking. 

All the art media were used, and used successfully, to bring out the most of Luce's poems, starting with engaging screen projections that brought desert, roadside bar's vibes and pop culture into play.

The music used in the show spanned from the vintage songs from 1920s and dark, intense contemporary electronica through Chopin’s nocturnes, up to Toni Braxton, whose 1996 hit “Un-break My Heart” served as the show finale, a signal that a sexual experience’s other side is heartbreak and sweet melancholy.