Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up, and see what Sacramento State’s Department of Theatre & Dance has in store for you.

“Venus,” directed by well-known Faculty member, Dr. Goodrich, opened last Thursday night and was pleasure to watch.

This amazing play was based on a diligent South African woman named Sarkie Bartmann, who had a body that early Europeans idealized because of her “big bottom.”

This was unusual with women in the European culture, but was very prominent and admired within the African culture. This fascination that the Europeans had lead them to persuade Bartmann to present her bizarrely massive body part in what is known as a side-show in England, under the name Venus Hottentot.

Venus Hottentot was played by Sac State’s student, Danielle Thrower, who is a Theatre Arts major, and did a kick-butt job of playing her part.

This especially goes for the forbidden bedroom scenes where Venus expresses her affection under covers for her love Baron Docteur, played by Ernesto Bustos, also a Theatre Arts major. The acting was excellent with Thrower and Bustos both staying in character throughout the performance. The realism of this scene brought naughtiness to the play, and definitely grabbed the attention of the audience.

“Venus” approached a serious topic dealing with racism, but with a comedic twist that softens the plot and made the play interesting and less offensive to watch. The costumes and the setting of the play was based around the l800’s, so each character was dressed in that era with the look and dialogue. They seemed as though they should have been on the front of an American dollar bill with their white curly wigs, long-sleeve-ruffled shirts that buttoned up to the neck, and suits with penguin tails for men. Not to mention the long, old-fashioned flowered dresses, with matching bonnets that tied under the chin that was worn proudly by the women, and little girls that came to see Venus at the side-show.

Dressed in this attire it was expected for the cast to sound much like your ordinary British person, but when each character opened their mouth purposely using slang words like “yo” and “gimme” continuously through the play, was hilarious. Goodrich used the contrast of modern and conservative conversation that gave the audience stomach pains from laughing so hard, in addition it added a little bit of unanticipated flavor to the play.

“Venus” is packed with comedy, controversy, culture, sex and more sex, all of which are elements of what lures in an audience. It took the audience on a ride through the challenging journey of a woman in a freak show on mission to make a fortune.

This play is without a doubt worth seeing and deserves the support of the students on campus. “Venus” is playing now through November, so make sure you find time to catch this one.