Showing as part of the theatre’s Women Writers Festival, Kathryn Haywood’s show has yoga .. and sex … and to draw on its extended title …women over 40!
As a woman over 40 who has never done yoga, this appealed as a fun evening out. Done and dusted in less than an hour, this is part stand-up, part recital (from three 1960s Australian books about yoga (and women, over-40s, and sex)), and part audience interaction.
Haywood is first encountered doing a headstand at the end of a ‘yoga and flatulence’ class. We’re up next, in the headlights to be enlightened. Yoga, the books tell us, have an effect on the face, figure, brain and mood.
Each is mined for laughs by an easy manner and amusing script, as Haywood moves from serene meditation to nervous energy, from grumpy outburst to amusing jokes.
The Kama Sutra, fine wine, the locust position, and how not to grow old are covered alongside exercises to firm the bust, slim the figure, and fit the thunderbolt.
Dressed in a t-shirt daubed with a glittery pair of lips and a loud pair of leggings, Haywood clearly knows her moves and her audience, joining in the jokes, puns, and deliberate mis-namings “what’s your name”, “Matlida”, “Miranda?”.
It’s the portrait of any fitness or wellness practitioner you’ve ever encountered, with the parody dial turned right up. It’s looking after number 1, over-40, and still able to stifle a snigger at the number 69.
Directed by Dan Mersh, Yoga and Sex is a smashing fringe show without being weird, preachy or needing much engagement of brain.
Did I get my fun evening? I laughed, I felt the audience (a sell-out on the show’s last night) were a good bunch up for the craic (and the cake) and in for the wisdom of ‘Michael and Nancy’s’ remaindered library books.
****
Yoga and Sex … has finished its run in the UK but you can find Kathryn’s details and socials here where it reveals, of course, that she is a yoga teacher!