Search

Toggle dark mode:

Saved articles

You have not yet added any article to your bookmarks!

Browse articles

GDPR Compliance

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

Aphrodisiac

 
Stuart Mckenzie Review by Stuart Mckenzie 3 Published: 5 Aug 2025 Steel Coulson Southside Show Dates: 3 Aug 2025-24 Aug 2025

After several years working within the National Health Service, Dr Jeannie Jones was startled to discover a shocking find from a 2019 British Medical Journal study: British people were having less sex. Could the solution be found in expensive surgeries? Perhaps more consumption of chocolate and avocados? Nope, says Jones – an unbiased education blended with unabashed sex jokes is what she will prescribe. With her own therapeutic brand of comedy, Jones comes in with a fresh perspective about the oft-feared killer of long-term relationships and stagnation within the bedroom, attending to the need for sexual intimacy and desires on separate wavelengths against a backdrop of incessant puns and body positivity.

Laughter in the face of our most shame-ridden subjects is truly the best medicine

To enter Jones’ headspace, we need remind ourselves that we are all on very different respective sexual journeys, as one may on a throwaway glance feel like Aphrodisiac appeals only to a repressed middle-aged crowd. The lack of men able to find the clitoris; the elderly mother’s stern warnings that boys are only interested in one thing. It’s a familiar story, but a convincing one that is remodelled with crisper insight into the human body and its needs – bridging the gap between improved sex education and the embarrassment of messy sexual encounters. With fun anecdotes that include Anusol mishaps, painful mix-ups on the meaning of CBT, and debating whether sperm is gluten-free, Jones casts a far-reaching net that also considers the importance of self-love and care. Puns are an abundant source that Jones mines in high quantities: some she melds well into her comedic crucible whilst others end up on the slag heap (pun unintended), but her inclusion of props – with real suction-action penis pump – are a firm pleaser (also unintended) and serve her well in setting up the lengthier, almost at-times long-winded, jokes.

The interactive side of the show, which instructs the audience to draw the female genitalia, is clever but not executed as smoothly as one would hope. Certainly, having the pens and paper on tables beforehand would eliminate the need to hand them out mid-show – which dents the momentum and leaves Jones to fill the awkward silence left in the wake of audience members struggling to visualise what a clitoris looks like as she cheerily reads out slang vaginal phrases as though she’s discovered Urban Dictionary. Still, the payoff is worth it in the end, with the winning entry forgoing anatomy to present a caricature of the US president that allows Jones to show off her formidable improv with a mic drop moment on pussy-grabbing.

In many respects, Jones’ appreciation and impromptu communication with her audience is by far the highlight of the act – a consequence stemming from her years of helping a broad array of clients as a GP – and eclipses some of the clunkier set pieces. Double entendres are the act’s cornerstone, but sometimes reveal an uneven surface to work from, where the show’s tempo can be dislodged by the odd misfired pun. She shoots her shot on the likes of her stark criticisms of medical misogyny and porn addiction, but is she packing high calibre? Perhaps not with the blanks fired on the cringey sexual sat nav gag that almost drives the show off the road.

Is Aphrodisiac a wonderfully silly piece? Oh yes indeed, as much as one would hope for in handling the delicate and oft-misunderstood realms of carnal desire, and it does this without prejudicing its larger message: that laughter in the face of our most shame-ridden subjects is truly the best medicine.

Amir Nisi

Stuart Mckenzie

Stuart is a freelance journalist with over 13 years of professional experience, writing for various newspapers including The Scotsman, inews and The Student Wordsmith. Since joining Broadway Baby in 2013, Stuart has had extensive encounters reviewing various fields, with a particular focus on comedy, music and theatre. He has worked as the Broadway Baby music editor for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival since 2017.

Related to this article:

Location:

Performances

The Blurb:

In this hour show, Scottish GP and comedian Dr Jeannie Jones discusses sex and the lack thereof in long-term relationships. In this taboo busting show she covers medical problems, anatomy and the psychology of libido with wit, wisdom and a lot of jokes! If chance would be a fine thing. If the fire has gone out. If the action is spare. If the answer is I’m not in the mood. Or if you just want to future proof your already great sex life or gloat at people not having as much sex, then this is the show for you!
The Producers
Titanique
Lion King
Popular now
Matilda
Wicked
Phantom of the Opera