Help Sexquisite take Stripped to VAULT Festival

Aim

We're making political theatre fighting stigma against sex work and need your help to take it to The Vaults Festival!

Stripped! is a political cabaret-theatre show detailing the lives of 4 strippers working post pandemic in the face of strip club closures, exploitative bosses and societal stigma. 

Devised from real life experiences, we follow Maia's first shift at the strip club as she attempts to make enough money to save up to leave her abusive relationship. 

Stripped is a piece of fierce, bold and feminist theatre that reflects the reality of existing as a sex worker in the current political climate, the sisterhood of the strip club, and the ways in which we self-organise against oppression. Using drama, comedy, poetry, burlesque and more, it is form breaking, multi-disciplinary, and powerful. 

We believe in art as activism, and now we need your help to get this show to The Vault Festival to have as wide an impact as possible!

5 STARS FROM POLYESTER ZINE - THE GLORY MARCH 2022

$tripped! is fucking phenomenal, 5/5 stars and you should absolutely make time to go see it, especially if you’re new to revolutionary hooker politics.

How can you help?

We're raising money to pay our creative team for the rehearsal period in the lead up to Vault Festival. Making theatre is expensive, and with the recent cuts to funding in London from Arts Council England we are diversifying our fundraising streams. 

We believe all artists should be paid for their work, and we are also committed to offering sex workers paid creative work. Help us make this happen!

Our budget covers: 

• Fees for our theatre makers and performers for 3 weeks of their time 
• Fees for our director for 3 weeks of their time 
• Fees for our producer and assistant producer for 3 weeks of their time 

Why supporting our theatre is making a real change and impact

• By platforming sex worker stories written by sex workers, we are combating the misrepresentation of sex worker experiences within the media 
• We use theatre and art as a tool to educate and impact audiences beyond the show. The stories in the show reflect the ways in which sex workers are forced to exist in the UK in the face of legislation, stigma and violence 
• The majority of our cast are from queer, working class backgrounds and have not had access to traditional theatre training, working on Stripped and showcasing it at The Vaults is a way that they can hone their craft and build their creative career 
• We are committed to offering sex workers alternative income streams outside of the industry. With the cost of living crisis work for our community is at an all time low, and we want to create paid creative opportunities 

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK FROM STRIPPED

"Sexquisite's show Stripped teared me up! Laughed, cried and then cried some more. Raw, honest and much needed. We need more shows like this because theatre has always been a stage for politics and the revolution."

"It made me look at sex work through a new lens, particularly the hypocrisy around perceptions of sex work. It was high energy and glam but the honest writing sort of de-sensationalised the subject matter in a way that felt like it reclaimed it from Hollywood and shone a light on it for what it is - hard work."

"The show was raw, honest and showcased some incredible writing while managing to remain playful and funny. The comedy actually delivered some of the more heartbreaking moments which was as destabilising as it was enjoyable. I've never seen a play where the bravery of the cast earned the empathy and respect of an audience in a way that felt so palpable which felt really beautiful to be a part of."

How the funds from our last Crowdfunder helped us to develop Stripped

We wouldn't be at this point in our journey if it wasn't for all of your support! We have used the funds from the last Crowdfunder as match funding to apply for Arts Council Funding for our Research and Development period this November. We are awaiting a result, but with the precariousness of ACE funding at the moment we have decided to raise money for the rehearsal period through Crowdfunding + other ways. 

The team

Maedb Joy is a poet, actor, writer and theatre maker. She trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she graduated with First Class Honours and a nomination for the Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund in the Devising category. 

Since graduating in 2020, she has been commissioned by Guildhall, The Barbican and Bishopsgate, co-devised various theatre productions, and written and performed an original one woman play to a sold out audience and standing ovation at A Pinch of VAULT in July 2022. 

She is due to be featured as inspirational alumni by Guildhall in their magazine PLAY for her work with art and activism, and has had her work featured by The BBC, Institute of Contemporary Arts and Tate St Ives. Maedb has recently been selected to join the Royal Court Playwriting Group 2023.

Maedb is also the founder and co-artistic director of Sexquisite Events.

Her role in the project will be as a producer, facilitator, theatre-maker and performer.

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Carmen Ali (sometimes known by her cabaret persona April Fiasco) is a stand-up comedian, actor, burlesque performer, and writer. She is co-artistic director of Sexquisite Events and co-organiser at socialist strip club Cybertease. She is a regular performer on the London cabaret and comedy scene, and recently performed with Cybertease at Latitude Festival, doing a panel talk about the misconceptions of sex work. 

With Sexquisite she has been commissioned by Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and Bishopsgate Institute, and co-devised various theatre productions and cabaret performances. In 2021 she was selected to be part of Soho Comedy Plus Labs and in 2022 she wrote and performed an original solo work in progress stand-up show at A Pinch of VAULT Festival in July 2022. She has been featured by many publications and media outlets including The BBC, The Guardian, TimeOut, Vice Magazine, & Novara Media. 

Her role in the project will be as a theatre-maker, performer, facilitator and producer.

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Megan Prescott is an actor, writer, and director who starred as Katie Fitch in the Bafta-winning Channel Four drama ‘Skins’. Since her time on ‘Skins’ Megan has turned her focus more to writing and directing. She has just completed a directing course at the National Film and Television School and has previously worked for Balloon Entertainment as part of the development team as well as interning at Fox Studios in Los Angeles.  Megan was awarded a place on Soho Theatre’s Writers Lab in 2020 as well as a place on The Bush Theatre’s West London Playwright’s Group. Megan is a board member of National Ugly Mugs, a UK-wide charity working with sex workers to do research, design and deliver safety tools and to provide support services to people in adult industries. Megan has lived experience of the sex work industry and has recently been in the press campaigning on the double standards between how the media and society in general treats sex workers compared to how they treat actors and other creative freelancers.

Her role in the project will be as a theatre-maker and performer.

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Ashleigh Rose-Harman is a project manager and producer working in the charity sector passionate about working with marginalised communities.  She has worked for Clean Break Theatre Company for a number of years, as well as The Young Woman’s trust. 

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Riley Xiao is an artist and curator graduating from BA Culture, Criticism and Curation, University of the Arts London with previous work experience at The Vagina Museum and the UAL Chinese Society. 

Her work is focused on marginalised communities whose voices have been historically silenced or ignored and involves curatorial activism and engaging in movements including feminism and sexuality amongst other social issues. She is particularly interested in gaining more experience in theatre production and her role in the project will be as assistant producer. 

We will also be hiring a director and sound designer.

Thank you so much for reading, and we hope to see you at Vault Festival!

This project successfully funded on 12th January 2023