Equal parts memoir, confessional, and therapy session, Lee-Anne Poole’s semi-autobiographical Talk Sexxxy, currently on stage at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery until January 19, is a consistently engaging monologue. Thanks to a terrific script and equally terrific performance, it provides a skillfully unsettling arc from the laugh-out-loud to the genuinely horrifying.
The play
Fifteen years ago, depressed, out of work and pregnant, Lee-Anne Poole went looking for a job that she could do in her tiny bachelor apartment as she grappled with what life had thrown her way. Emboldened by a one-night stand who told her she had a sexy voice, she decided to apply for a job as a phone sex worker. It doesn’t take long before she gets hired by a phone sex line.
Admittedly blurring the lines between truth and fiction (or reality and fantasy) on multiple levels, in Talk Sexxxy, Poole, who is both playwright and actor, recounts some of the calls she received throughout her employment as a phone sex worker with snippets of her personal life interspersed with some of her client’s calls who take advantage of the “hard-core, no taboos” advertised.
As Poole’s 60 minutes play out, the calls range from what we would today consider mundane to the more bizarre and finally to the darkest reaches. With her words, Poole skillfully takes her audience on what ultimately becomes a gut-wrenching look at the underbelly.
Poole cleverly ends the play as a recording of her voice takes over the narrative, drawing a powerful parallel to the mechanics of phone sex.
The players
Don’t believe Poole when, near the top of her play, she says she is not an actor. Far from it. Constantly engaging, Poole creates vivid pictures as she tells her story. Sometimes funny, sometimes despairing, she gradually builds to the horror of a singular request from one of her phone clients; the emotional toll it ultimately takes on her is palpable.
Originating the role during its initial workshop production in 2014, Stephanie MacDonald takes over as director in this production while Poole takes over the stage. There is little doubt that MacDonald’s previous work with Talk Sexxxy provides intimacy and familiarity with the material that could easily escape another director.
The setting
Poole’s playground represents the small bachelor pad she rarely left during her time as a phone sex worker. In the middle, flanked on two sides by the audience, there is an unmade bed with various articles and garbage strewn about. In a nod to the memory aspects of the play, rather than more fully utilizing the bed and articles, Poole delivers most of her monologue from the edges under MacDonald’s direction.
The art installation
Because this production takes place inside the SMU Art Gallery, it is perhaps unsurprising that it also features an art installation curated by Lou Sheppard. The installation, which includes items from the original 2014 production, reminds us that we are about to see is a play, albeit anchored in some reality (another example of the blurring of lines between fact and fantasy). Sheppard’s curator notes in the program are a necessary read, providing insight into what he has assembled in the gallery space.
Talk Sexxxy is not for the faint of heart or easily offended. Thanks to Poole’s script and performance, though, it provides a guided and emotional glimpse into a world that few of us are familiar with. It packs a punch as good theatre should. With its somewhat unorthodox ending (no spoilers here), I inwardly gave Poole a standing ovation.
Talk Sexxxy continues at Saint Mary University’s Art Gallery (5907 Gorsebrook Ave, Halifax) until January 19, 2025. 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.