Talk Sexxxy is the semi-autobiographical story of a phone sex operator, Kristie, who isn’t leaving her apartment. Kristie is a new employee at a telephone service where customers play out their erotic fantasies for two dollars a minute. The phone sex operators blur the lines between reality and illusion for the callers, role-playing their every fantasy. When a company proclaims, “No Taboos, Hardcore Phone Sex!” the requested role-plays become more and more disturbing.
This combination art installation and theatre hybrid by long time Halifax actor and playwright Lee-Anne Poole takes a searing look at the world of phone sex work
The experience I had working in phone sex is not like anything I've seen reflected
“I first started writing about phone sex while I was doing the job. In years since, I’ve tried to present the work in many ways, never feeling finished.” says Poole. “The experience I had working in phone sex is not like anything I've seen reflected, and it's been challenging to know how to share it.”.
Talk Sexxxy was a blog, then it was workshopped as a play, and Poole has adapted it into poems, and fiction, and a screenplay – not putting the subject down for over 15 years, and also never really presenting the work.
In the 2014 Mayworks workshop, Stephanie MacDonald played the role of Kristie. Now ten years later, Poole performs the piece with longtime collaborator MacDonald making her directorial debut.
"Reimagining this play with her in the role, I felt strongly that there needed to be an elevated experience around it.” says Stephanie, "Like a musician picking up an instrument to play a difficult piece of music, or an expert giving a Ted Talk. The oscillation between her presenting it, but also being in it was a tension that spoke to me artistically, and one that I wanted to elevate and stage with care."
Talk Sexxxy runs at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery on Gorsebrook Avenue from January 9th to 19th.
The gallery will be open at 6:30pm nightly for the art installation, and the performance will begin at 7:30pm. The live performance lasts for 1 hour.
