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Newcastle play announces new dates for its debut performances and offers free tickets to key workers
An insightful and hilarious new play will launch this summer in a bid to shed light on what life is really like for a UK sex worker. Sex Is Hard Work, from community interest company Life Of Reilly ,will debut in Newcastle in June and will be followed by a UK tour, including dates at Edinburgh Fringe Festival next Summer.
It is inspired by the book of the same name and tells the story of a former Tyneside escort in a way that will turn people’s views on the trade forever. The play’s producers chose Tyneside’s iconic Cluny 2 venue in the Ouseburn Valley for the play’s debut and will perform six back to back dates from the 28th June to the 3rd July.
Commenting on the new play, co-founder of Life Of Reilly, Alison Stanley, said: “What impressed me most about the person that inspired this is that she most definitely isn’t what you’d expect a stereotypical sex worker to be like. She’s not the drug addict or the lonely misguided person that has been taken advantage of by the pimp that we hear about in Netflix documentaries. She’s a straight-talking businesswoman who saw an opportunity and used it to her advantage.
“The play is empowering women. As an occupation, it isn’t often associated with ‘girl power’. We’re not condoning prostitution, but we want to highlight that male customers don’t necessarily hold all of the control.”
“She simply went into the industry for the money with a business head on her shoulders and I think that’s very refreshing. She decided that was what she was going to do rather than sit in a call centre.
“Some of the stories and her experiences will have people’s bellies aching with laughter.”
Sex is Hard Work will take place from the 28th June to the 3rd July at Cluny 2 in Newcastle, with free tickets for NHS staff and key workers for the final show taking place on Saturday 3rd July. Tickets can be purchased here.
