Taking to the stage dressed as a giant vulva, Australian clown and improvisor Sophie Power talks returning to Edinburgh Fringe with her award-winning, riotously interactive exploration of feminine pleasure, bodily shame, and collective catharsis — no two nights ever quite the same
You take to the stage dressed as a giant vulva, which is a bold and immediate provocation before you’ve even said a word. What was the thinking behind that choice, and how does the costume set the tone for everything that follows?
The show idea was actually initially about the word “can’t” – I thought it would be a fun double entendre to be a giant CVNT provoking the audience. Now, the beginning is all about teasing the audience about their discomfort with feminine sexuality.
The costume is so lush and gorgeous and takes people into another world, but what really sets the tone are the CVNT’s big Bouffon eyes, scanning into everyone’s souls. She’s quite intense!
Bouffon is a style of clowning that traditionally uses grotesque exaggeration to hold a mirror up to society. Why did that particular form feel like the right vehicle for exploring feminine pleasure and bodily shame, as opposed to, say, straight stand-up or more conventional theatre?
Bouffon is an extraordinary vehicle for satire, and really enables the audience to examine their own prejudice around a subject. We didn’t want the show to be preachy or didactic, so Bouffon enables us to explore everything around a theme, question why it is this way, and let the audience make their own conclusions. Plus it’s a lot of fun to play on that knife’s edge of discomfort!
Each night shifts depending on what audiences choose to share and admit on stage. How do you create an environment where people feel safe enough to be that vulnerable, and have there been moments that have genuinely surprised or moved you?
Great question. Audience safety is incredibly important to me. At the start I have a voiceover which says you can tap out at any time with your arms crossed in front of you. I take my time in selecting those who hold my eye contact and look excited to play.
I also monitor the person as the interaction is going to see if they change their mind. LIKE SEXUAL CONSENT! It’s that simple, people.
Once they’re up, I get the audience to give them heaps of love so they know they’re not alone.
They always come up with such wonderful things. One beautiful example that made me cry was someone who said they were so afraid to sing, but then came out with the most angelic voice singing a Tim Minchin song about not being afraid anymore. There was a lot of wetness in the audience that night.
CVNT has now toured extensively across Australia and beyond, and you’ve described every night as completely different. How has the show itself changed and grown since it premiered at Melbourne Fringe in 2024, and do you think it’s a fundamentally different piece now?
Absolutely, and not really. The very first one we made in 20 hours 2 weeks before the premiere (DO NOT RECOMMEND). So we reworked it for Adelaide Fringe 2025. Since that big change, we’ve tweaked it over time and I’m always playing with the rhythms and ways I ask for and do things. Fundamentally pretty much the same games and themes, just expanded and then tightened.
The show asks why feminine pleasure remains so confronting. In your experience of performing this across different cities and countries, have you noticed cultural differences in how audiences respond to that question, and what does that tell you?
OOFT. I performed it once in Samoa and my, was that interesting. You could get arrested there for what I did as they’re incredibly Christian. We had to sneak me out the back door in case they were offended.
I’m currently performing it in Los Angeles and they’re so much quieter in the sexual part and much more reluctant to say the word CVNT. It’s HIGHLY offensive here. I love it.
Brit’s are so shocked and don’t know where to look and the Scot’s are all for it. Obviously I’m making MASSIVE generalisations here. But it is very fun to measure reactions.
Australians can be a bit prudish too. I’m really yet to see an audience who isn’t completely shocked by it, even at Dark Mofo in Tasmania, which is full of weird and wacky sex stuff.
I guess you can make your own conclusions from that!!
There’s an interesting tension at the heart of CVNT between genuine emotional catharsis and riotous comedy. How do you navigate that balance in the room?
Bouffon is so powerful. I love riding that tension line of being genuine and vulnerable and then switching to comedy and back. It’s just an energetic shift that you have to feel in yourself and the audience tunes in to.
The show might seem riotous and improvised, but really I am in complete control of it the whole time. She’s such a powerful character people don’t dare stand up to her. Which is the whole point of the show, really!
CVNT is at the Edinburgh Fringe at The Box at Assembly George Square 5 – 31 August 2026 (not 13, 20 & 27). Ticket information here https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/cvnt