Orlando Fringe 2024 review: ‘A Woman’s Guide to Peeing Outside’

The penile privilege of peeing while standing up has been lorded over women for eons, but writer/performer Holly M. Brinkman is here on her (fictional) bestselling book tour to overthrow the patriarchy by teaching women how to squat with pride. Luckily, CityArts will let you exit and reenter if hearing Holly’s “Woman’s Guide to Peeing Outside” gives you the urge to get up and go.

Growing up in isolated rural British Columbia gave Brinkman lots of opportunities to be unclothed outdoors, which naturally lead to lots of urinating in extremely al fresco circumstances. As a former coed Cub Scout, ignore her advice about which leaves NOT to use as nature’s toilet paper at your own peril. Her teenage crush on Leo DiCaprio, efforts to lose her virginity, and an adventure at a rave are all elements of this entertaining but uneven one-person production.

Although it’s been on tour for several years, the freshly reimagined performance I attended was plagued by mistimed audiovisual cues, halting pauses and fitful pacing. Brinkman is a funny, appealing performer, but there wasn’t much visual variety in director Chantelle Delamont’s blocking, beyond some goofy dance moves and an audience participation over-water weeing demonstration.

In the end, everyone who must squat to pee is part of a greater whole, which, according to Brinkman, makes peeing upright — with the help of her helpful gynecological diagrams — a political act. At the risk of mansplaining, as someone who sees what men will do to a public restroom, I suggest that peeing standing up isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. Maybe what we really all need is a “Guy’s Guide to Peeing Sitting Down”?

Orlando Fringe: Tickets and Times for “A Woman’s Guide to Peeing Outside”

This article appears in May 15-21, 2024.