Poles: The Science of Magnetic Attraction - Adelaide Fringe Review

Poles: The Science of Magnetic Attraction - Adelaide Fringe Review

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Posted 2022-02-22 by Maria Vouisfollow

Mon 21 Feb 2022 - Sat 26 Feb 2022



The Bakehouse Theatre, a small, intimate setting for a play probing behemoth questions about intimacy, the sex industry and a girl who strips for money but longs for authentic love. Poles: The Science of Magnetic Attraction, a monologue starring Amelia Pitcher and directed by Maeve Hook previewed to a full and appreciative audience last night.

It is a tour-de-force moving through perennial and painful themes of the commodification of women's bodies; sex as a trade versus sex as human bonding; women as 'marriage material' or disposable sex toys; power relationships between 'bald, white guys' buying dances from naked, pole dancing girls; infantilised, shaved female genitalia and cats as a surrogate family and ultimate teachers of unconditional love. This is the protagonist's odyssey of agonising emotional evolution and worth your time investment.

Poles, a dark comedy monologue sees protagonist 23-year-old Cora, reeling through a precarious existence as a stripper, in an industry saturated with alcohol and drugs, competing with her co-workers for bookings and hiding from her father who turns up unexpectantly to her club.

Cora depends on her flatmate Sergio for company and exists in nostalgia for the one and only true connection she has ever known – her high school best girlfriend turned into a lesbian one night stand.

After running into her bestie, who has met most of her key performance indicators such as a stable government job and a real live in boyfriend, Cora fantasises about their one-night stand. She painstakingly composes texts she sends as feelers for re-connecting and stumbles through a number of ill-fated relationships with exploitative, narcissistic men and finally adopts George the cat to provide surrogate food for her hungry heart.

Rohan Dimsey's pre-recorded soundtrack supplies the voices of additional characters such as Kale, the self-proclaimed feminist male who hooks up with Cora, moves in and 'exchanges frequencies' with her until Cora confesses love for him during a wild sexual interlude. He then spills that she isn't 'marriage material' and soon after disappears. The elephant in the room: the reality of a woman's entrapment in the sex industry in terms of transitioning to both 'legitimate' work and relationships is brutally exposed in these brief relationships and Cora's attempts to secure other work. The narrative drips with social stigma and focuses empathy on the Cora's plight.

The omnipresent smartphone and our addiction to it plays a key role in the narrative. Pitcher weaves this into the monologue and uses it effectively as a prop, broadcasting the familiar sounds of texts and calls. This punctuates the protagonist's lines and articulates modern-day dependence on this form of communication for bonding. Cora names the emojis she adds to her texts and those she receives from others. This bonds her and the audience in the personal and universal experience of emotional dependence on the mobile and its sounds.

Amelia Pitcher, who graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London and recently appeared in the ABC's - All My Friends Are Racist, performs the work skilfully and commands attention. She develops her character Cora in a nuanced progression from a rather selfish, drug dependent, habitual harmless, bullshitting stripper to a vulnerable, young woman who learns the sacrificial aspects of real love when she relinquishes George the cat, her one true love, to a family he has adopted.

Written by Amelia Pitcher and based on her lived experience in the adult entertainment industry, the monologue illustrates the socio-political issues of women in the sex industry, their social and marital glass ceilings with candour and precision. Pitcher cleverly includes the argot of this industry in the monologue. This adds authenticity and trench humour. Although the play addresses heavy themes, full of injustice and suffering it is still hilarious and entertaining – quite an accomplishment.

The stage design is deliberately spare, lighting by Kyra Ryan non-intrusive and works to draw the audience into the protagonist's existential angst.

Directed by Maeve Hook, an award-winning playwright and performer who worked with the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble and studied a BFA in Acting at QUT, Poles: The Science of Magnetic Attraction is hot off a successful run at The Butterfly Club in Melbourne.

Part of The Fringe, Poles is playing at the Bakehouse Theatre in Angas Street from the 22nd to the 26th February 2022 and runs for 1 hour without intermission. Masks and vaccination status are required.

Tickets can be purchased from the Fringe:
[LINK=https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/poles-the-science-of-magnetic-attraction-af2022]https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/poles-the-science-of-magnetic-attraction-af2022
[/LINK]

#adelaide_city
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#february
!date 21/02/2022 -- 26/02/2022
%wnadelaide
191898 - 2023-06-16 03:39:05

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