by Laura Ferguson
Amber Topaz is on stage, sequinned skirt hiked up around her waist, knickers around her knees. She warbles in a drunken Irish tone about drinking more beer, her red hair falling into her eyes haphazardly. She mimes alleviating herself in a public street. It is hilarious and undignified. I love it.
The Rude Awakening. Sex, Shame and Liberation is a show for those whose cheeks remain unblemished by blushes formed from the utterances of words like ‘cock’ ‘orgasm’ and ‘vagina’. Though we will hear enough of them in this hour-long show to ease us into enjoying the titillating anecdotes and lurid songs Topaz performs.
I am the target audience of this show as I find non-harassing sexual innuendos endlessly entertaining. Topaz provides captivating facts about human sexuality, she regales us with tales about “that time in India when the unfortunate erection incident happened” and dares us to publicly vocalise generalisations about our own sexual experiences.
We move on to the Womb of Truth portion of the show where Amber Topaz is redefined as Dr. Feelgood and she reads out questions we have put into the fanny pack at the start of the show. This part of the show could either be hit-or-miss and tonight’s is a miss with most questions being unspecific or really quite simple, lending the answers to follow in suit.
Nonetheless, I am thoroughly enjoying myself during this experience, I holler at the mention of multiple orgasms, I laugh and clap in appreciation of a well-placed ‘hood’ joke. There are only a couple of us that raise our hands when Topaz asks if we masturbate. Liars.
So yes, this show could be deemed embarrassing and shameful by some, and certainly many in the audience seemed uncomfortable, and that is the real shame I think. I can imagine that in an ideal world, this show comes part in parcel with a warm-up act, a performer who is able to lube us up with laughter and inject subtle hints of sexuality before we get fully blown by Topaz.
Leaving, I had a cheeky grin on my face. I found Topaz’s show to be fun, flirty and educational. The Rude Awakening is a great place to leave shame and shyness at the door and instead let sexual curiosity flit around. The more inhibitions are left outside, the better and more hilarious Amber Topaz becomes. And comes and comes and comes.
You can find tickets to the Fringe festival here.
I am the target audience of this show as I find non-harassing sexual innuendos endlessly entertaining. Topaz provides captivating facts about human sexuality, she regales us with tales about “that time in India when the unfortunate erection incident happened” and dares us to publicly vocalise generalisations about our own sexual experiences.
We move on to the Womb of Truth portion of the show where Amber Topaz is redefined as Dr. Feelgood and she reads out questions we have put into the fanny pack at the start of the show. This part of the show could either be hit-or-miss and tonight’s is a miss with most questions being unspecific or really quite simple, lending the answers to follow in suit.
Nonetheless, I am thoroughly enjoying myself during this experience, I holler at the mention of multiple orgasms, I laugh and clap in appreciation of a well-placed ‘hood’ joke. There are only a couple of us that raise our hands when Topaz asks if we masturbate. Liars.
So yes, this show could be deemed embarrassing and shameful by some, and certainly many in the audience seemed uncomfortable, and that is the real shame I think. I can imagine that in an ideal world, this show comes part in parcel with a warm-up act, a performer who is able to lube us up with laughter and inject subtle hints of sexuality before we get fully blown by Topaz.
Leaving, I had a cheeky grin on my face. I found Topaz’s show to be fun, flirty and educational. The Rude Awakening is a great place to leave shame and shyness at the door and instead let sexual curiosity flit around. The more inhibitions are left outside, the better and more hilarious Amber Topaz becomes. And comes and comes and comes.
You can find tickets to the Fringe festival here.