This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/13/no-sex-please-ulster-kama-sutra
The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Puppet Kama Sutra in position to unveil sex lives of Ulster men and women | Puppet Kama Sutra in position to unveil sex lives of Ulster men and women |
| (8 days later) | |
| It's being billed as Thunderbirds meets The Vagina Monologues and its subject is rather delicate: the sex lives of the supposedly conservative, uptight, God-fearing people of Ulster. | It's being billed as Thunderbirds meets The Vagina Monologues and its subject is rather delicate: the sex lives of the supposedly conservative, uptight, God-fearing people of Ulster. |
| The Asia-born playwright Andrea Montgomery and the Northern Ireland comedian Nuala McKeever are to stage the musical drama based on the province's sexual tastes, kinks and hang-ups at Belfast's Opera House. It opens this weekend. | The Asia-born playwright Andrea Montgomery and the Northern Ireland comedian Nuala McKeever are to stage the musical drama based on the province's sexual tastes, kinks and hang-ups at Belfast's Opera House. It opens this weekend. |
| The duo say they have had to use puppets to portray the erotic scenes in the The Ulster Kama Sutra, rather than use real actors, otherwise they would not have got their show into such a major theatre. During two years of researching sexual attitudes and experiences, Montgomery built a wooden booth in central Belfast called "The Foxy Box of Thoughts", in which the public could record their sex lives honestly – the resulting play is based on 100 anonymous interviews. | The duo say they have had to use puppets to portray the erotic scenes in the The Ulster Kama Sutra, rather than use real actors, otherwise they would not have got their show into such a major theatre. During two years of researching sexual attitudes and experiences, Montgomery built a wooden booth in central Belfast called "The Foxy Box of Thoughts", in which the public could record their sex lives honestly – the resulting play is based on 100 anonymous interviews. |
| Montgomery said she found interesting results – there was no difference in attitudes towards sex from working-class Protestants and Catholics, both of which groups were far more liberal and tolerant than the middle classes on either side of the religious divide. | Montgomery said she found interesting results – there was no difference in attitudes towards sex from working-class Protestants and Catholics, both of which groups were far more liberal and tolerant than the middle classes on either side of the religious divide. |
| She said there was reticence from some theatres across Northern Ireland because of the sexual content. "I kept trying to pitch it to different theatres, to get money, but they were too frightened about the subject. When I said it was going to be about sexuality in Northern Ireland more or less everybody went, 'Don't call us, we'll call you'. It was when I got that reaction I realised this has to be a puppet play because it's one step removed and becomes safer. | She said there was reticence from some theatres across Northern Ireland because of the sexual content. "I kept trying to pitch it to different theatres, to get money, but they were too frightened about the subject. When I said it was going to be about sexuality in Northern Ireland more or less everybody went, 'Don't call us, we'll call you'. It was when I got that reaction I realised this has to be a puppet play because it's one step removed and becomes safer. |
| "I thought we should do it with puppets because I once ran the Riverside theatre in Coleraine and I used to have pickets outside some of the shows I put on if there was any sexual content in the drama." | "I thought we should do it with puppets because I once ran the Riverside theatre in Coleraine and I used to have pickets outside some of the shows I put on if there was any sexual content in the drama." |
| Talking about the title, The Ulster Kama Sutra, Montgomery said: "I wanted that explosion that comes when you put two seemingly contradictory terms in the same title. | Talking about the title, The Ulster Kama Sutra, Montgomery said: "I wanted that explosion that comes when you put two seemingly contradictory terms in the same title. |
| "I deliberately chose 'Ulster' in the title alongside 'Kama Sutra' because 'Ulster' has that connotation about it, of dour conservatism. | "I deliberately chose 'Ulster' in the title alongside 'Kama Sutra' because 'Ulster' has that connotation about it, of dour conservatism. |
| "Our mission in our production company – Terra Nova Productions – is to create work about where cultures collide because that is what I am. I came to Northern Ireland having grown up in Asia, lived in Canada and married a local man. I am the living, breathing embodiment of that culture clash," she said. | "Our mission in our production company – Terra Nova Productions – is to create work about where cultures collide because that is what I am. I came to Northern Ireland having grown up in Asia, lived in Canada and married a local man. I am the living, breathing embodiment of that culture clash," she said. |
| From the wooden booth interviews, she said that one oft-repeated finding was an amorous interest in the outdoors. | From the wooden booth interviews, she said that one oft-repeated finding was an amorous interest in the outdoors. |
| "Every time I asked them what they thought was wonderful, sexually, about Northern Ireland the public drew me pictures of rolling hills and lovely beaches." | "Every time I asked them what they thought was wonderful, sexually, about Northern Ireland the public drew me pictures of rolling hills and lovely beaches." |
| Contained within the Ulster Kama Sutra are references to sexual stances such as the one entitled the "Loyalist Paramilitary Position" as well as, in the interests of political balance, the "Gerry Adams Position". | Contained within the Ulster Kama Sutra are references to sexual stances such as the one entitled the "Loyalist Paramilitary Position" as well as, in the interests of political balance, the "Gerry Adams Position". |
| McKeever said the biggest sex scandal for years – the revelation that Ulster's first lady and wife of then first minister, Peter Robinson, had had a relationship with a younger man – meant the time was right for a play exposing the sex lives of the Northern Irish. | McKeever said the biggest sex scandal for years – the revelation that Ulster's first lady and wife of then first minister, Peter Robinson, had had a relationship with a younger man – meant the time was right for a play exposing the sex lives of the Northern Irish. |
| "I think things like the Iris Robinson scandal blew the lid off some of the hypocrisy here and that also gets a mention in the final song." | "I think things like the Iris Robinson scandal blew the lid off some of the hypocrisy here and that also gets a mention in the final song." |
| A brief history of Ulster saying no … to sex | A brief history of Ulster saying no … to sex |
| Save Ulster from sodomy Ian Paisley started his campaign against equality for gay people back in the 1970s, but the anti-gay rights movement suffered a major defeat in 1981 when gay rights activist Jeff Dudgeon won a landmark case in the European courts which ruled that Northern Ireland's exclusion from laws that had decriminalised homosexual acts in England and Wales was a breach of his human rights. | |
| Sound your horn for decency When the first sex shops were established in Belfast in 1981 and 1982, pickets from Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church descended upon them. In one protest outside a sex shop in Castlereagh, in the heartland of Peter Robinson's then East Belfast parliamentary seat, demonstrators held up placards urging motorists to sound their horns in protest. | Sound your horn for decency When the first sex shops were established in Belfast in 1981 and 1982, pickets from Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church descended upon them. In one protest outside a sex shop in Castlereagh, in the heartland of Peter Robinson's then East Belfast parliamentary seat, demonstrators held up placards urging motorists to sound their horns in protest. |
| Jesus Christ … superstar! Belfast was one of the first cities in the UK to try to ban the rock opera in the 1970s. Four decades later, the Rev Ivan Foster and other evangelical Christians were still demonstrating outside performances in the city's Opera House of the Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice show because local fundamentalists regarded it as "blasphemous", particularly in its portrayal of Mary Magdalene's alleged erotically charged love for Jesus. | Jesus Christ … superstar! Belfast was one of the first cities in the UK to try to ban the rock opera in the 1970s. Four decades later, the Rev Ivan Foster and other evangelical Christians were still demonstrating outside performances in the city's Opera House of the Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice show because local fundamentalists regarded it as "blasphemous", particularly in its portrayal of Mary Magdalene's alleged erotically charged love for Jesus. |
| Gay pride and prejudice An annual sub-fixture to the Gay Pride march through Belfast is a group of born again Christian fundamentalists who still picket the parade each year, without fail. | Gay pride and prejudice An annual sub-fixture to the Gay Pride march through Belfast is a group of born again Christian fundamentalists who still picket the parade each year, without fail. |
| • This article was amended on 20 February 2013. The original said that a landmark case in the European courts concerned Northern Ireland's exclusion from laws that lowered the age of the consent in the rest of the UK. In fact Northern Ireland's exclusion was from the decriminalisation of homosexual acts that occurred in England and Wales in 1967. |