Shining spotlight on invisible lives

SEE ME NOW Young Vic’s Maria, SE1

IN THIS 90-minute show, 11 sex workers share professional and private revelations. Their stories have been shaped by Molly Taylor, who’s previously staged a homage to public transport and a quest to achieve the perfect dinner party. Here, collaborating with director Mimi Poskitt, she ventures into much darker territory, unpacking the details of lives that are usually invisible.

While the diversity of the participants and the tastes for which they cater perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise, it does. One provides a horrendous account of being trafficked. Another, who’s trans, recalls feeling marginalised as a youngster and being diagnosed as autistic. A third had a promising music career, but turned to prostitution to support her crack habit.

As they reveal their motives and routines, we glimpse a world that’s dangerous and painful. Yet there are jolts of humour, as when elegant dominatrix Governess Elizabeth introduces us to her remarkable arsenal of special equipment, and some of these people are enigmatic — among them Flynt, a university dropout who loves to play the piano, looks like a clean-cut businessman and insists on the virtues of monogamy.

This is a highly personal show rather than an assertively political one. It lacks focus, and despite the candid immediacy of the testimony we don’t get much purchase on the character and psychology of several of those involved. But it’s clearly a positive experience for them, and for the audience it’s never less than intriguing.

Until March 4 (020 7922 2922, youngvic.org)