Review: High Steaks by ELOINA at Vault Festival ★★★★★
Eloina’s High Steaks is labialicious, a must-see, taboo-busting, funny exploration of issues around, well, the labia.
HIGH STEAKS | Vault Festival, Waterloo | Until 27 January | Sold Out
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Presumptions about the shock-factor marketing were instantly assuaged with Eloina’s deadpan comic delivery and brave activism – in the face of mockery of the ‘fanny flaps’ everyone loves to sneer at.
High Steaks sees Eloina telling tales about the labia from her own experience of bullying (see ‘beef curtains’) to wider society’s prejudice and ignorance around this essential part of the vulva and human anatomy.
The underground VAULT Festival seems the perfect place to discuss this topic, but hopefully the show will fill larger theatres to bring the issues around body shame, labiaplasty and learning to love and get to know your genitalia.
High Steaks is truly inclusive, with its recorded voices across the spectrum from trans men to older women – the show feels fresh and relevant to all. There is a spiritual and ritual vibe to the proceedings with a splash of cookery, ancestry and vaginal family ties. If performance art freaks you out this is a crossover hit, which should delight and challenge in equal measure.
There were a few sections which could have been chopped – much like the steak chimichurri prepared on stage – but overall the show is a real delight.
Eloina provides a space to explore the labia, and issues a rallying cry for parents, friends and everyone to be more accepting and nicer to each other.
I am Joint Editor at To Do List. I like free, cheap & offbeat London, especially: cabaret, art, theatre, pop-ups, eating out, quirky films, museums, day trips, social enterprise & much more.
