A TIME-TRAVELLING odyssey exploring sexuality and gender will premiere in Edinburgh this week as a precursor to a possible staging in secondary schools across Scotland.
Part of the 2021 Made in Scotland showcase, Sex Education Xplorers (S.E.X) is a playful new take on sex education from the award-winning team behind the 2018 Fringe Favourite, Eaten.
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As well as looking at gender and sexuality, S.E.X. provides an opportunity for young people to meet LGBTQ+ artists. It has been created by Edinburgh based ex-zoologist Mamoru Iriguchi who stars in it alongside Afton Moran who is also based in the city.
He said that while Scotland was a very progressive country when it came to LGBT issues, he felt storytelling could play a helpful part in sex education.
He added that his zoology background could shed light on the current heated debate about biological sex.
Initially Iriguchi envisaged it as a solo show but, as a gay male, decided to include someone who identifies as non-binary and invited 24-year-old Moran to join him.
“Non-binary as an identity has really developed in the last few years and, as I am 54, there is that age difference which is also important,” he said.
“I see LGBT mainly as a gay person but so many young people are questioning their gender and identity which I think should be celebrated and that is part of this piece.”
Iriguchi studied zoology at masters level in his native Japan, but dropped out because he felt excluded.
“It was before I came out but I was unhappy my own sexuality was not talked about even though we do see homosexuality in penguins and other animals,” he said.
“Everything was about reproduction and if you are excluded from that you kind of become meaningless and that is obviously wrong.
“If you look at sexual activities most of the time they have nothing to do with reproduction. People also have sex for fun and because they love each other.
“As well as at mating season animals display sexual behaviour at other times so let’s not look at it just as a means of reproduction.”
The notion of play has a big part in the lives of animals but is often ignored, according to Iriguchi.
“We see animal behaviour as very functional but most of the time they are actually playing,” he said. “If we look at sexual behaviour as a playful activity then you can see the whole thing quite differently.”
He added that it wasn’t necessary for humans to define themselves as male or female.
“When we see sexual activity as just two human beings in love it allows anyone to be involved in this sort of relationship and we can really question our identities.”
In developing the play, Iriguchi shared parts of the show with teenagers at Leith Academy and had conversations with LGBT pupils – although at one point he felt the whole gender identity issue had become so politically charged he considered shelving the project.
In the end he decided to go ahead as he wanted to make a fun show that would entertain and inform young people.
“I think we are in a good place and I am looking forward to sharing the piece,” he said.
S.E.X is at Summerhall’s Secret Courtyard (venue 26) on Fridays to Sundays from August 6-29. https://www.summerhall.co.uk
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