Theatre / Female Sexuality
Review: Ad Libido, Wardrobe Theatre
Female dolphins enjoy having sex. Many human females don’t. Is this a problem? Fran Bushe thinks so.
Bushe’s one-woman show Ad Libido crashes headfirst onto the Wardrobe’s stage, bringing with it an unapologetic discussion of the trickiness of female sexual pleasure. With golden streamers, a red tent, and a curious fascination with the sex life of dolphins, Bushe charts her quest to ‘fix sex’, and wonders why – aged 31 – she still struggles to enjoy what others manage so easily.
This ridiculous and confessional cabaret-style performance wins over the hearts and smiles of its Bristol audience. And how can it not? Bushe addresses us personally; she reads from her teenage diary and shares intimate details of lost condoms and Sex Camp without a hint of embarrassment. She punningly tells us ‘since the age of 16, I’ve been sexually acting’: and male and female audience members alike relate.
is needed now More than ever
Pic: Ali Wright
The show’s strength lies in its penetrative depiction of inequality through laughter, balancing serious subject matter with light-hearted jokes and songs. Bushe’s refreshing, intelligent voice and adept social commentary seeps through crude penis jokes and the ridiculousness of a vulva projected on stage. Her relentless energy, excellent character work, nuanced facial expressions and faultless comic timing make her instantly enchanting, and the show intentionally feels more like a drunken chat with a friend than a performance.
Yet Ad Libido is let down by an apparent proclamation of its own taboo-breaking nature. The show’s thematic discussion – although of course important, and unrepresented on the stage – isn’t as cutting as I’d have hoped. Jokes eliciting gasps in older audience members don’t affect the younger ones in the same way. Ad Libido’s message feels a little forced and obvious, though Bushe isn’t aiming for subtlety.
This hour-long chuckle is both personal and universal, comic and serious, and very, very important. Bushe reclaims her own sexual story and unaggressively challenges why sex often feels like the pursuit of male pleasure alone. She sings, she dances, she stimulates conversation, and she tells us that sometimes, if we’d rather talk about current affairs than have sex, that’s alright too.
Ad Libido continues at the Wardrobe Theatre until Friday, February 15. For more info, visit b247.staging.proword.press/whats-on/theatre/female-sexuality/ad-libido-bristol
Read more: Scottee on ‘Fat Blokes’ (Trinity, Feb 22)
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
