Theatre Works, Saturday 1st February 2025

I had really wanted to see this last year but due to not getting a ticket in time I not only missed the actual show but also the live stream of it also. I was determined not to miss it again so booked this when it went on sale last year. I had originally planned to go see it with someone else but ended up asking someone else as I rarely go see these sorts of shows and wanted someone to share it with.

I have crossed paths with both Frankie van Kan and Dandrogyny when they were models for Dr Sketchys Melbourne when that was still a thing and there weren’t anywhere near as many of life drawing classes as there are now. Also I remember seeing her perform at the Glasshouse in Collingwood for an event that ends up being one of the incidents mentioned in the show!

These days I am not really involved in the burlesque scene, but back in the early 2000s I went to a lot of shows and took photos. I can’t believe I wasted actual emotion on it when the performers did not really care about me at all a lot of the time. I had one stand up for me to stop me getting kicked out of show on my birthday. She is still a performer up in Sydney and touring overseas. There’s a book I did get out of it. It has been stored in the State Library of Victoria if you really want to see it. I am not publishing any more of them that was my author copy.

For the last seven years I have also been researching old newspapers in the State Library of Victoria with an emphasis on the Truth Newspaper. I actually did a fellowship application about the paper being a social barometer of Melbourne. I should have done it on the sex industry but I did not feel like I was qualified to do that, I’m doing a doctorate or anything. You can really see the changes in the escort ads after Gough Whitlam got in during the 1970s.

I had known Frankie van Kan was in stripping but did not know she was a full service sex worker until this show came up. The site that will not be named came up with her working name in about 2 seconds. This has gotten me in the shit in the past so I will not blab it here. Quite apart from the fact that Meta seems to want to out people also. The punters seem to have enjoyed her services when she was doing full service. A bit of confusion over what “tantra” actually is though and people expecting porn-star service at rub and tug prices. Coles and Woolies don’t give you a discount! Why should sex workers.

The hand of Maude Davey is upon this show even if you don’t realise it, Frankie talks in the classic “cabaret” voice like an evil queen for the entirety of the show. Finding your voice also means being able to project it and get your message across.

Dandrogyny as “the body” and stand-in for all the clients works quite well in the show. A lot of physical work and changing his entire personality seemingly with just a hat or some extra clothes. For the physical demonstration of male arousal there should be high-fives all round including Frankie. I would get a massage from her if she was wearing the lab coat and glasses. And there it is! I knew that would happen eventually!

There is a lot of physicality in the show which would expect but I did not think it would be so funny. Not just because I know more than I am comfortable letting on about the sex industry but also the situations she describes are funny.

I did not expect it to get so graphic, I was lucky I picked the most broad-minded of my friends I could think of to come along. As I said I usually go to these sort of shows by myself.

I could not really pick the audience, did seem a broad range of ages and genders. I was say some of them would currently be in the sex industry but there is not really a “type” these days especially with online work and other support industries with people who do with sex workers but do not do anything themselves.

This is a remarkably mature work not just in terms of being something you would expect from a performer later in their career but also something you would see do well overseas and then tour here to high acclaim. The story is based on the performer’s 17 years in the industry so there is a lot behind it. Not sure what they are doing with it going forward as usually it is normally a book or podcast that comes out of something like this but in this case they chose to go with performance.

Not sure what the plans for Frankie van Kan are they could easily come on board with Finucane and Smith I am sure as they are now in that orbit. It’s up to them as is when this show is going to run again so if you ever see it advertised in the future and are at all interested I would run it book it straight away so you do not miss out. Run! Don’t walk! Take money out of your savings if you have to!

Rating: 5/5

Show details:

Written and performed by: Frankie van Kan

The Body – Dandrogyny

Director: Maude Davey

Venue: Theatre Works, 14 Acland Street, St Kilda

Duration: 70 minutes

WARNINGS: Nudity, Themes of a sexual nature, Strong language, Smoke/Haze, Mature Themes, Depiction of sex acts