While Lee-Anne Poole’s Talk Sexxxy, an exploration of the world of phone sex work, was first presented at the Mayworks Festival in 2014, it is a story that she has been contemplating for over 15 years.
The experience I had working in phone sex is not like anything I’ve seen reflected, and it’s been challenging to know how to share it. – Lee-Anne Poole
A semi-autobiographical art installation-theatre hybrid, Talk Sexxxy follows phone sex operator Kristie, a new employee at a telephone line where customers play out their erotic fantasies for two dollars a minute. As the company begins offering hardcore phone sex with no taboos, the requested role-plays become more and more disturbing.
Over the years, Poole has tried to tell her story in various ways, through blogs, poems, and even a screenplay. She eventually settled on the current hybrid piece, which will take over Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery from January 9 to 19, 2025.
“I first started writing about phone sex while I was doing the job. In years since, I’ve tried to present the work in many ways, never feeling finished.” says Poole in a media release. “The experience I had working in phone sex is not like anything I’ve seen reflected, and it’s been challenging to know how to share it.”
Stephanie MacDonald, who played Kristie in the 2014 Mayworks workshop, makes her directorial debut, with Poole stepping into the role for this production.
“Reimagining this play with her in the role, I felt strongly that there needed to be an elevated experience around it,” says MacDonald in the media release. “Like a musician picking up an instrument to play a difficult piece of music or an expert giving a Ted Talk. The oscillation between her presenting it, but also being in it was a tension that spoke to me artistically and one that I wanted to elevate and stage with care.”
Talk Sexxxy runs at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery (5907 Gorsebrook Ave, Halifax) from January 9 to 19, 2025. The gallery opens at 6:30 p.m. nightly for the art installation, with the performance beginning at 7:30 p.m. Visit talksexxxy.com for tickets and information.
Content warning: Talk Sexxxy contains intense and explicit content related to real-life experiences of phone sex operators. You can find more information on the play’s content at talksexxxy.com.