Image description: Jacinta Larcombe wears a short, messy, blonde wig, and an oversized, pin-striped business blazer. They face towards the left, but they look into the camera. They hold wads of fifty-dollar bills in both hands, near their face.
By James Haley
Rules of the club: No touching. No phones allowed. Don’t get your dick out. No touching.
SLUTDROP is a powerfully-written solo performance piece by ex-stripper, Jacinta Larcombe (they/them), which explores the stripping industry from a perspective of personal experience. With only sixty minutes and at $26 (the price of entry to a strip club), Larcombe proudly discusses every question too taboo for you to ask: how does a stripper prepare for each shift? What kind of money does it pay? What happens if you get your period while on shift? Do you have to be a slut to become a stripper? Is it ethical?
SLUTDROP lap dances you through a broad variety of flavours without them feeling disjointed or forced. Larcombe effortlessly has fun with their performance – an energy which overflows into the audience. They own their body. They own their sexuality. They own the stage.
The show sets the tone by introducing the audience to the rules of the club; the atmosphere from the perspective of a stripper; and the income that can be made. Larcombe then leads the audience by the hand as they contrast the lived experience of real sex workers against how they are portrayed in film and television. They present scenes of pure abstract horror, and confront themes of how body dysmorphia and mental health affect the work of a stripper.
“My two most powerful weapons are my sexuality and my vulnerability,” Larcombe said at the bar after demonstrating as much in their performance, kissing both biceps and laughing. “My show tries to balance humour and facts to inform the audience about not only the fun, beauty and power that the stripping industry holds, but also about the danger, violence and prejudice faced by us [sex workers].”
SLUTDROP is fun, energetic, sexy, and compelling. A must see.
By popular demand, SLUTDROP is having its second run for the FRINGE WORLD season, tonight and tomorrow night only. Buy your tickets here.
Sixty-nine out of five
Image courtesy of FRINGE WORLD Festival
Woodside Petroleum is a principal sponsor of FRINGE WORLD Festival. Pelican has been a long-time supporter of the Festival, and will continue to show its support. However, the Magazine feels it is unethical for Woodside Petroleum to remain a principal sponsor of FRINGE WORLD, given the current climate emergency, and Woodside’s ongoing contribution to climate change.
Other Festivals have demonstrated that ethical sources of funding are possible – you can read more, and sign the petition, here: https://www.change.org/p/fringeworld-side-with-the-climate-and-drop-woodside-petroleum // #fossilfreefringe #fossilfreearts // Arts and Cultural Workers for Climate Action