1-25 Aug (not 12) at 17.15
(preview at
Did you know that only a few dozen,
out of the approximately 4000 mammal species on the planet, form anything like
lifelong pair bonds? And that, according to recent statistics, as many as 60% of
married men and 50% of women have had sex with someone other than their spouse
whilst married?* But why haven’t we talked about this? Until
now…
Prompted by a rash of
monogamy-bashing by high profile authors and thinkers including Alain de Botton,
the breakdown of several close friends’ long term partnerships and an unlikely
conversation about open relationships in Northampton, comedian and disgruntled
serial monogamist Rosie Wilby presents a loose sequel to her Fringe Report Award
winning 2009/10 show The Science Of Sex (which she recently performed in New
York) after making a pact with her best friend that they are going to become
‘sex sirens’ in their early 40s – whatever
that means.
Rosie investigates age-old conflicts
between freedom and commitment and between the pace of modern dating and the
views of couples who have managed to stay together and goes in search of people
who have chosen a polyamorous lifestyle with multiple partners. ‘There’s some great language here’ she
laughs, ‘the term ‘polysaturated’ has been
coined to describe reaching a threshold of as many partners as one can handle at
a given time. Meanwhile a Male-Female couple seeking a mythical bisexual woman
to complete their perfect fantasy triangle are known as ‘unicorn hunters’ in
search of their ‘Poly Grail’.’
She also presents the results of her
anonymous online survey on fidelity and her own Family Fortunes-esque quiz to
ponder what actually counts as infidelity, whether any of us agree on this and
what other secrets monogamous couples keep from one another and asks ‘now we have same sex marriage, where are the married
dating sites for lesbians?’ Plus her disastrous attempt to find some
sexual misadventure at a supposedly erotic ‘lesbian sauna’ (everyone ended up
chatting and cleaning) and a dash of erotic cereal eating to test out abstinence
advocate John Harvey Kellogg’s theory that a balanced diet including cornflakes
would reduce sexual feelings.
Rosie says: ‘I’ve started wondering if in order to be happy,
human beings need both the loving security and companionship of a partner
and the passion offered up by a
lover. These two distinct sets of needs are rarely met by the same person at the
same time. If we could ever establish a society where having one of each was the
norm, then maybe we could eradicate the need for affairs
entirely.’
Funny Women Finalist 2006 Rosie has
appeared on BBC Radio 4 Loose Ends, Midweek and Woman's Hour and at festivals
including Glastonbury , Latitude and Green Man.
Get involved in the discussion! Fill in Rosie's survey here.
Get involved in the discussion! Fill in Rosie's survey here.
'Excellent and a
bit posh' Time
Out
‘…a whole host
of laughs, mostly laugh out loud belly laughs. Rosie rocked
it’ **** Geoff Evans,
one4review
For further info please see
www.rosiewilby.com and / or
contact Liz Hyder on 07939 372 865, liz@lizhyder.co.uk or on
Twitter @LondonBessie
*Barker, Meg –
Rewriting The Rules, p99 (Routledge, 2013)
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