Sister

Amy and Rosanna Cade
Arches
Summerhall

Rosanna and Amy Cade

Looked at from one perspective, Sister seems to be little more than a show designed to titillate men, as a pair of young women dance around poles and lewdly display their talents in a nightclub formatted room.

However, with the pedigree of Arches Theatre in Glasgow behind them, there was always likely to be more artistry and thought behind the performance from Amy and Rosanna Cade.

In fact, the show falls somewhere between these two stools. It is largely a frank exploration of the sex industry but also sexuality and gender.

As well as performing, the university-educated sisters from Tring, seen filmed in childhood on a large screen, talk about their lives.

Blonde Amy has been a porn star and sex worker in the UK and now lives in Germany plying her trade where the law is more permissive.

Shaven-headed Rosanna is a lesbian who seems to be taking time out from real life to appear.

Their similarities and differences are the main purpose of the evening complemented by the reactions of their relatives to a career in the sex industry.

Sister is a brave attempt to go beyond stereotypes that asks whether society has a right to govern and condemn the choices that we make. Whether it succeeds in taking the sex out of the sex industry is another matter.

Reviewer: Philip Fisher

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