Shows on the Rise at VAULT Festival 2018: Ad Libido by Fran Bushe

The VAULT Festival is coming to town! From January 24th to March 18th, over three hundred new shows explode across a festival of festivals in their Waterloo home. With new venues, new bars, new food and plenty of surprises, VAULT 2018 is the biggest, fairest platform in London for artists to present innovative, daring work. Here we have a catch up with Fran about her show Ad Libido and everything to do with SEX and ORGASMS FOR WOMEN and intensely important stuff like this (as you can probably tell, the all-female TB editorial team are huge fans).

Hey Fran, thanks for talking to Theatre Bubble, how is everything going with Ad Libido?

Great thanks! In preparation for bringing Ad Libido to VAULT Festival (Feb 21-25th) I’ve been jazzing up my dance routines, walking round London dressed as a dolphin (I really found my inner porpoise) and fielding phone calls from ex-boyfriends who all think the show is about them.

What can we expect from the show?

Ad Libido is a sexy-time quest with songs about pursuing a ‘normal‘ sex life. It explores my own experience of Female Sexual Dysfunction, which covers problems with sexual response, desire, orgasm or pain during sex and it is estimated that FSD affects at least 43% of women. Sexy stuff right?

I was bored of doctors advising me to ‘do more sex’ or to ‘pop some Savlon on the problem’ or to ‘NEVER HAVE SEX AGAIN’ and decided to take matters into my own hands (not a euphemism). You can expect toe tapping tunes, a magic penis and a visit to Sex Camp.

Why is your show important?

There’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ sex life, but it is important for people to enjoy the sex they are having and to feel able to communicate if they aren’t. I wasn’t honest about this for many years and even when I was it often caused more problems, so it isn’t easy.

There are currently 24 approved medical solutions for male sexual dysfunction and none for women. It’s not a competition but I think it’s probably time we redressed the balance a bit. I hope the audience will leave feeling empowered, normal and humming the tune to ‘Magic Penis’.

What’s the weirdest piece of sexual advice you’ve been given?

Imagine sex is macaroni cheese. That might help you want it more.

(I do really love macaroni cheese)

Ad Libido is performing at the VAULT Theatre in Waterloo as part of VAULT Festival from the 21st to the 25th of February at 21:15. Tickets and more information can be found here.