La Mama presents A BODY AT WORK by Frankie Van Kan

Serial nudist Frankie van Kan exposes more of herself than ever before in this deeply intimate piece of confessional theatre coming to La Mama HQ for Midsumma Festival 2024. Directed by acclaimed theatre artist Maude Davey, A Body at Work is the tale of a queer woman’s sixteen years – and counting – in the sex industry.

In her debut solo show Frankie, AKA Frankie Valentine of Stripped Queer, Club Briefs, Baby Got Back, and Seen & Heard Cabaret is joined by an all-queer crew that will take the audience on a journey into shifting landscapes of the sex industry and explore what it is to be a body at work.

While the state of Victoria moves away from the criminalisation of sex work, this show will provide a much-needed insider perspective that is rarely—if ever—platformed. Beginning in a strip club, with insightfully refreshing antics of strip club culture and the perceived power dynamics between workers and clients, Frankie unpacks her own whorephobia and the unravelling of boundaries. As she regales you with stories of the body as a commodity and navigating queerness in this honest, humorous and heartfelt journey Frankie asks the question—will they love me at my Madonna when they’ve relished me at my whore?


Content Warnings: full nudity, sexually explicit content

For tickets and more information, visit the La Mama website.


Header Image by Darren Gill

Gabi Bergman

Gabi Bergman is a Melbourne-based performer and educator, and is the current Deputy Editor-in-Chief of AussieTheatre.com. She holds a Double Arts degree in Theatre Studies and Film/Screen Studies and a Master of Teaching (Secondary Education). Gabi has always been an avid lover of theatre, specifically musicals, and spends way too much money than she’d like to admit on tickets. Her most prized possession is her crate of theatre programs.

Gabi Bergman

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