Fifty Shades of Grey was the bestselling book that gripped the world with its stories about Mr Grey and his sexual appetite for pain and pleasure. I found no pleasure in the book and after several chapters gave up. So when I went to see the one-woman show A Beginners Guide to Bondage by Sara Mason I wondered if this would be more pleasurable.
Sara tells us of her real life experiences of her alter ego - the dominatrix Mistress Venetia
At the beginning, Sara tells us that the real life world of BDSM and bondage is nothing like the book Fifty Shades of Grey. She says you don’t have to be mentally damaged or rich, like the book's main character Mr Grey, to be into the lifestyle. Through PowerPoint and props, Sara tells us about the real life experiences of her alter ego - the dominatrix Mistress Venetia. Dressed in thigh high boots and PVC, she recreates the scenarios of her dungeon and talks about all kinds of clients she has encountered in a very amusing, but informative, style. One minute the audience are laughing and the next gasping with some of the things her clients like for sexual pleasure. Members of the audience volunteer to help Mistress Venetia and are led around like dogs on leads and others are spanked. This makes the rest of us roar with laughter. It’s all done safely and no one is really hurt. Via PowerPoint we learn about different types of sexual deviancy and the audience seemed to be listening intently and learning a lot.
Mistress Venetia is very high energy, but tells us spanking someone for hours can be exhausting.
The dark point of the show is when she tells us about a client who killed himself. This makes the atmosphere serious and silent, but quickly Mistress Venetia takes control again and makes us laugh with her ideas for new sex toys. Sara Mason has written a show that's informative, fun and a little bit naughty. She’s a natural storyteller.