GREG JOYCE Canadian Press Friday, June 27, 2003

VANCOUVER (CP) - Two actors performed a sex act on each other Thursday night as part of a play billed as Canada's first live sex show.

The naked man and woman entered a small gallery room packed with about 35 curious audience members and embraced before lying down on a bed with a large white sheet hung behind them. There were no uniformed police officers visible in the audience and no arrests happened immediately after the show finished, despite promises from the Vancouver police department to investigate if the highly promoted oral sex act by two actors went ahead.

Earlier in the day a police spokeswoman had declined to say whether officers would attend and lawyers for the art gallery hosting the play, called Public Sex, Art and Democracy, said they doubted police would be present.

The show kicked off with a relatively low-key first act, during which the gallery's owner was interviewed while sitting on a coach about his views on eroticism and sexuality.

John Ince also explained why he wanted to put on the controversial play.

"It's never been done before in an art gallery," said Ince.

But the show livened up considerably once the naked actors appeared.

As they began to perform oral sex on each other, artist Martin Guderna entered the scene and began spraying a white canvas behind the pair with a water bottle.

He then took a paint roller covered in red paint and started to roll the paint onto the female actor's buttocks and shoulders, and the male actor's knee caps.

Ince and Guderna then removed the sheet and draped it over the couple and Guderna continued painting the sheet for some twenty minutes, occasionally ducking under it to apply more paint to their bodies.

He would then press the sheet to the bodies to make an imprint.

Finally, he and Ince removed the sheet and hung it back up, leaving an imprint of the two actors.

Ince, a civil rights lawyer and self-described erotic-arts activist, said last week that the ire of police has been raised because of an act of "genital pleasure."

He said police want to force that into hiding.

Police initially shrugged off reports about the planned performance, saying they wouldn't interfere unless there was a complaint.

But they quickly changed their stance after consulting with the force's vice unit.

On Thursday, an Vancouver police spokeswoman said officers would respond if a sex act took place.

"If the show goes ahead, there will be an investigation," Const. Sarah Bloor said.

"And if there is information in evidence that is forthcoming from that, then it would be forwarded in a report to Crown counsel and they would ultimately make the determination about charges."

Rishi Gill, one of the lawyers for the group staging the performance, has said the show would be defended on the basis of its artistic merit.
© Copyright 2003 The Canadian Press