Blakka Ellis: Let's talk about sex and sexuality

"Let's talk sex baby, let's talk about you and me, let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be, let's talk about sex..." Who remember those lyrics from the 1991 hit by Salt-N-Pepa?

Well between, you and me, is that kind of meditation I man a pree. Yuh nuh waan pree di meds and reason wid me?

Whether you call it the battle of the sexes, the great gender debate, or plain old 'man an woman business', the discussion around gender, romance, sex and sexuality is always topical, often trending, always relevant and never ending. Yeah man, everybody likes to talk about it, especially those people who are probably not doing it!

So, where, when and how then do you join the conversation? What's your favoured angle of entry? Me, I love to deal with things up front.

And that I'm doing with help of an amazing cast and crew in 'He Said, She said'. The riotous revue opened at Courtleigh Auditorium last Friday, and from the opening song, Too Much Sex, the audience was comically aroused and arrested. 'He Said, She Said' is an adults-only production that enters the sometimes delightful and sometimes disturbing sex/gender dialogue from a place of playful provocation. It's an eclectic collection of skits, songs, poetry and parodies that delve into some popular perceptions, tease out touchy taboos, and confront common contradictions. And di actors dem dweet good - the onstage performances!

From the night club to the bedroom, from the corner shop to the front lawn and from various other intimate and public spaces in between, they stroke some pun, poke some fun and 'tek some bad ting mek laugh'. They expertly engage the exhilarating edge of 'naughty' with entertaining stuff that will make you laugh, think and talk. And, well, if you do anything else, don't attribute that to the show. So wah yuh say, when yuh coming?

rumour

In fact, I'm not really sure, but I think I kinda hear that there is a 'students-only' two-for-one special for tertiary students with ID at the show on Friday. Like ah said, mi nuh sure, but shhhh ... Look here nuh, don't tell dem say mi tell yuh this, but even if it never really go so, if yuh call call the ticket line at 542-4160 and tell dem dat is Blakka spreading the rumour, dem will have to sell yuh di ticket! So come check it out.

Another great thing to check out this week is the annual Kingston Book Festival (KBF) - a full week of events for readers, writers, publishers, distributors, buyers, sellers of all things 'bookish' - whether fiction, non-fiction, poetry or play writing. This year's festival started on Sunday with 'Love Affair with Literature' at UWI. It is continuing with a number of events all over, including visits to school - where students get to talk and interact with writers about what it means to be a writer. I had the pleasure of being part of a KBF 2016 event on Monday, as I joined novelist Melanie Schwapp, poet and entertainment journalist Mel Cooke and writer/publisher Tanya Batson-Savage in a lively chat with some very bright and engaging grade eight students at Dunoon Park Technical High School in Kingston and it was a blast!

There's a fresh and innovative KBF event on today as well, called 'Literary Lunch' put on by Susumba's Book Bag. And tomorrow night is 'Late Night Lit' at Red Bones Blues Cafe in New Kingston. It will feature saucy satire and provocative poetry and prose from Andrew Stone, Carla Moore, Karen Carpenter, Michael Abrahams and Tony 'Paleface' Hendriks. Fun week in city Kingston, eh?