Queenie Bon Bon interview: Falling Down the Mystic Hole

Fest speaks to Queenie Bon Bon about respecting holes, bodies, yourself and each other

feature (adelaide) | Read in About 2 minutes
Published 18 Feb 2018
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Welcome to the Mystic Hole: A Presentation About Being in your Body and in Other People’s is a comedic, educational performance designed to push the boundaries of society and change relationships between people. Queenie Bon Bon tackles this issue with a storytelling exploration. “Storytelling is a really powerful and beautiful way for me to talk to people and unpack things in a really non abrasive way,” she says, “I find that is really effective.”

Welcome to the Mystic Hole… is not a tell-all guide or a set of rules to be followed. Instead, Bon Bon describes the show as “a nice little journey about how we exist in our bodies and how we exist in other people's bodies and what that might mean.

“It explores how we look after our bodies and those around us and how people around us care for us,” striking a balance between self respect and respect for others. “It is also unpacking the things that we are taught about our bodies and what it means to navigate those feelings.”

Bon Bon works as a sex worker in Melbourne, but the show “is not like 'the story of sex work,'” rather, it is an accessible and relatable story.  

“This is more of a thematic adventure about how I have chronic fatigue and about how we work, but also as I get older that I am reflecting on how we navigate our journeys.”

Her sex work history places Bon Bon in a unique position to discuss these journeys and internal navigations. “I've been a sex worker for a long time so [the show] is a curated version of the curiosities from my internal monologue at my workplace, but suddenly now I'm speaking it to an audience.”

The show aims to present a personal experience to audiences and curating almost a shared experience in regards to self respect and acknowledgement of one’s body. “The body is often a really unsafe place to be and paying attention to it is often really detrimental to being able to carry on in a functional way, so there really is this need to be somewhat disembodied,” she says.

“I don't think I have found what is empowering, but I'm more able to navigate things like what consent feels like or what is a genuine response to my sadness or exhaustion.”