ELOINA
HIGH STEAKS
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Updated 22 April 2024
Presented by The Lowry + Word of Warning as a WTF
HIGH STEAKS is a show about labia, labia-shaming, cosmetic surgery, and fundamentally, body lovin’.
Award-winning, queer performer, ELOINA, hangs two beef steaks from her labia, butchers them up, and sizzles them on a grill.
And…her mum is in the show.
Ticketing
Pay What You Decide: £20/£15/£10/£5/£0
Book: online or call The Lowry on 0343 208 6000
Time: Saturday 27 April 2024, 8pm (no interval, ends about 9.10pm)
Location: The Lowry (Aldridge Studio), Pier 8, Salford Quays, M50 3AZ
Access
Age Advisory: 18+ (parent/guardian/carer discretion).
Content Warnings: full frontal nudity, strong language, handling and cooking of raw meat, discussion of genital surgery, discussion of self-harm, depictions of real mother-daughter relationships.
Features: physical movement, recorded music and voices, spoken text/dialogue, potential audience interaction — please read the show’s access document.
Queries: please contact The Lowry, 0161 876 2183 or access@thelowry.com
About
Seamlessly melding performance art and comedy clowning, HIGH STEAKS discusses rising demands in young people for labiaplasty — plastic surgery to make the labia smaller/more symmetrical.
Through live conversations with her mum and recorded interviews with labia-owners, HIGH STEAKS is a call for increased visibility of varied vulvas and a celebration of our vulvas in all their shapes and sizes.
A riotous rebellion against labia-shaming and cosmetic labia surgery, HIGH STEAKS won a Summerhall 2023 Award, is an Offies 2024 Finalist, a Guardian 2023 top 5 theatre show, and a Creative Tourist top theatre pick.
Download the digital programme or see the free sheet.
Artist
ELOINA makes work that dismantles taboos around the female body. She mixes epic, body-based performance art and quick, comedy clowning. This makes her work accessibly impactful at both extremes & the in-betweens of the art world.
Since graduating from the innovative Drama degree at Queen Mary University of London in 2018, her solo practice has spread across London — opening conversations about menstruation, body hair, labiaplasty, vaginoplasty, female masturbation & ejaculation, motherhood, and breastfeeding.
Read her interview with Arifa Akbar in The Guardian.
Reviews
★★★★★ — Fringe Biscuit, The Scotsman, Theatre Weekly
Bold. Brave. Captivating. — Audience Response
Liberating. Eye-opening. Important. — Audience Response
★★★★★ If you like your body positivity served up with herbs on a hot plate and your natural bits to be discussed without any reticence, this is the show for you. — LouReviews
★★★★★ If performance art freaks you out this is a crossover hit, which should delight and challenge in equal measure. — To Do List
Credits
Birthed, Created, Performed, Produced by ELOINA
Directed by Louise Orwin
Star of the show: Mama (Annie Haines)
Developed with PARL (Performance Art Research, Ljubljana), Queen Mary University of London, Jackson’s Lane, Camden People’s Theatre
Outside Eye: Frankie Thompson
Sound Design by Sammy Metcalfe, Louise Orwin, Tom Foskett-Barnes
Sound Design Consultancy by Liv Lynch
Technical Stage Management by Roshan Conn
Safeguarding Management by Joe Iredale
Set Design by ELOINA & Joe Iredale
Lighting Design by Lily Woodford-Lewis
Producers: ELOINA, Beth Sitek, Millie Wood-Downie
Image by PARL/Matjaž Rušt
With loving thanks to: MAMA, Joe Iredale, The Sisterhood, Andy’s Dad’s Accordion, Queen Mary University of London.
With super special thanks to: Paula, Posey, Rosa, Porscha, Alice, Casey, Justine, Alex, Dani, and those who will remain anonymous for sharing your beautiful stories with this show.