Show Me Yours And I'll Show You Mine is based on a series of interviews with 'Not Nick', a man who works in the sex industry. Tim Spencer plays 'the writer', a selectively scripted version of himself. Charles Purcell plays himself playing someone who pretends to be someone else for a living. 'Nick' is not his real name. 'Nick' is a sex worker, a set of clothes, a history compiled of a list of facts that come across as endearing – the alias of a student with a boyfriend, from a country town with vivid memories. Spencer notes that although in a sense, the show is documentary', in that it was transcribed from real interviews with a man about his lived experience, it is still 'theatre' because he has made it more entertaining – shifted the timeline cut and added parts. Although Spencer's show holds strong audience appeal partly because sex and sex work will always draw a curious crowd, it avoids exploiting 'Not Nick's experiences by giving him a voice in the show. This bold choice is what holds the show in the balance between documentary and theatre. In the writer's notes Spencer says, “We made the show as honestly as we could.” This honesty is very apparent and Show Me Yours And I'll Show You Mine is an entertaining show, made by promising young theatremakers.
Running at North Melbourne Town Hall until Saturday 13 October
