"Stripperstories": That's how sexy politics is at the Munich Volkstheater

Created: 06/26/2022, 13:32

By: Michael Schleicher

The performers and activists of the "Berlin Strippers Collective".

© Shauna Summers/Münchner Volkstheater

The directing festival "Radikal Jung" at the Munich Volkstheater has started.

For the first time there is a "Late Night" series.

Formats outside of the traditional guest performances are presented here.

Sensual, sexy, funny and political was the start with the "Stripperstories" by the "Berlin Strippers Collective".

It's true: sometimes less is more.

Less clothes, less stage design, fewer props - instead a lot of heart, brains and humour.

The one above all.

On Saturday (June 25, 2022), the second day of the festival, the new "Late Night" series started at "Radikal Jung" at the Munich Volkstheater.

The makers announced somewhat awkwardly that they wanted to present the theater as a “collegial discipline of nightlife”.

What sounds bureaucratic was, in the sold-out substance, highly sensual, impressively sporty, always aesthetic - and always hilarious and highly political: in the club on Ruppertstrasse, not far from the Volkstheater, performers and feminist activists from the "Berlin Strippers Collective" gave guest performances from 10:15 p.m. with their " Stripper Stories".

With "Stripperstories" the Volkstheater was a guest in the substance

The fiercely celebrated evening combines striptease and stand-up comedy with anthropology and politics.

The five women present this melange to a great selection of music on the pole dance pole and on the microphone: Edie Montana, Chunky Sandwich, Dazzzed and Confused, The Dark Frau and Kaya Anouk - all of them wild fictional characters - show their skills and tell stories about theirs everyday work.

Her concern: To make it clear that sex work and stripping are jobs - and they are not victims.

"Stripperstories" at the Volkstheater: "We have decided to take control over our bodies."

Incredibly quick-witted, point-conscious and with wonderful irony, they report on customers and performances, on buttocks, parties, breakdowns.

It's great fun - and great sport when the artists go to the bar.

"We are human, and we are divine," they say.

Who wants to disagree?

And, even more clearly: "We have decided to take control over our bodies." On the day after the abortion verdict in the USA, this was probably the most important message of this sensually weird evening.