Katie Arnstein’s Sexy Lamp to make its digital premiere from Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre

Katie Arnstein’s Sexy Lamp is to make its digital premiere later this month.

Shining a light on sexism in the acting industry, Sexy Lamp will be live streamed from Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre on Friday, 23 April.

It will then be available to watch on-demand between Saturday, 1 May to Wednesday, 5 May.

The hilarious and heartfelt production from multi-award-winning writer and performer Katie Arnstein (Bicycles and Fish; Sticky Door) is a semi-autobiographical piece told with original songs.

A teaser shares: “Katie has dreamed of being an actor since she was seven years old. In 2012 she arrives in London, a city full of magic and optimism, and is greeted by the brutal reality of an industry where named, speaking and fully clothed roles for women are hard to come by. Now, Katie is an actor who refuses to stay in the dark any longer. Told from the perspective of a young actor with bold aspirations, Sexy Lamp is a story of power, prejudice, and the fight to keep dreams alive.

“This production is inspired by Kelly-Sue DeConnick’s ‘Sexy Lamp’ test which takes issue with scenes where a female character can be replaced with a sexy lamp without affecting the plot. While this blatant reduction of female actors’ roles still endures and while female creatives continue to fight for recognition, Sexy Lamp is a call to arms that demands women are seen and heard in all walks of life. ”

Tickets are priced at £10 and are available online here. The streamed performance will be BSL interpreted with on demand performances being adapted to include options with audio description and captioning.

Katie Arnstein commented: “I am over the moon to bring Sexy Lamp to the Wolverhampton Arena Theatre. I’m an artist originally from the West Midlands and so I feel really lucky, after such a difficult year, to be able to return there and perform live to audiences all over the country. Sexy Lamp is a comedy with original songs about my journey to becoming an actor and I hope people feel it provides a tonic to these extremely challenging times, with plenty of laughter and light.”

Neil Reading, Artistic Director of the Arena Theatre, added: “We’re delighted to have Katie and Sexy Lamp at the Arena as part of our move back to normality. While we won’t be able to welcome audiences to the venue for this performance, we are excited to be able to offer this show as a live-stream and to offer our audiences a chance to watch at their leisure at home, through our On-Demand period.

Picture credit: Jason Drake