Sophie Power on what she learned about doing a show called CVNT

Naming my debut show CVNT after one of the most taboo words in the English language was definitely a choice. 

Most people have no idea what to do with it.‘Is it pronounced… C-vent?’, ‘Could I get a ticket to… uhhh… C-V-N-T?’, "I love that flower around your head!"

I’ve had major theatres refuse to put up my poster. ‘Censored’ stickers stuck over posters in Edinburgh. Refusals for interviews or publishing the show in major publications, despite winning six (SIX!) Fringe awards in Melbourne, Adelaide and Hollywood, and consistently selling out shows across entire seasons. 

So… why is everyone so afraid? What’s the big deal?

There are two facets at play here: 1) How afraid people are of feminine sexuality, and 2) how afraid they are to say the word ‘cunt’.

Here is an incredibly scientific, peer-reviewed round-up of how oppressed I’ve found each community I’ve visited. Come at me.

Australians

YEEEEAHHH CUUUUUNT!!!

Most Aussies won’t flinch at the word, unless they’re an older generation

However, female sexual liberation is something else altogether. Two nights in a row his year I had two male gynaecologists argue with me about where the vagina was (they both placed it up where the clitoris is… if only! Hetero sex would be so much better)

I also had two nights in a row where two female-identifying people admitted they couldn’t come out to their parents as lesbian - both for religious reasons.

Do better, Australia.

Scottish

Jo Laidlaw from The List excitedly told me she knows at least eight different ways Scots use ’cunt’: ‘good cunt, bad cunt, daft cunt, total cunt, that cunt’ and my favourite one: ‘Oh ya cunt’. Which is for that specific pain when you stub your toe on a couch or bed frame.

Another Scot told me their favourite insult is ‘custard’ which is for anyone who’s a cunty bastard.

A Scottish audience member the other night promptly listed at least 15 different words for vulva off the top of her head, including ‘beef curtains’, ‘clam jam’ and my personal favourite, ‘panty hamster’.

No notes. 10/10. You’re all sound cunts.

English

My first night in Edinburgh 2025 had a group of very shy older English people who had no idea what was coming at them. ‘Ohhh… well… err… fk off… cunt?" They said politely.

I can’t wait to do this show in London. 

Americans

Los Angeles folk are totally used to very taboo things being flung at them by clowns. However, ‘cunt’ is a very strong word in America. Most Americans - no matter how liberal - still won’t utter it. Especially men.

Can you imagine if I tried to do CVNT in a rural town in America?! I’d come out looking like a piece of Swiss cheese.

Still, given all the shit that’s flung at LA clown-goers, I found their audiences to be some of the most shocked of all with not just the word, but the overt display of feminine pleasure. ‘Quiet’ not something you would usually associate with LA people?

Samoa

By a rather strange turn of events, I found myself doing the show in a cinema in Samoa for an expat wedding party before my Edinburgh Fringe run last year.

The cinema was teeming with children. I scared one so badly in the bathroom by simply doing my make-up that she screamed for her mother and they promptly exited, backing away from me slowly.

Later, a Samoan woman who worked for the UN said I could have been arrested for what I did. 98 per cent of Samoans identify as Christian and are devoutly so.  Male-male sex carries a jail sentence of seven years, and while there's no jail time for female-female sex (hooray!) that's only because lesbians are just not seen to exist at all. Simply swearing in public carries a jail sentence of up to three months. 

Ballsy of me to have done this gig a month before my Edinburgh Fringe run. Shame, really. Jail time would’ve done wonders for my PR.

I just hope Inside Out 2 was underscored with the audience  hearing ‘cunt!’ screamed over and over again from my show next door. 

Yes, I did sneak out the back door.

• .CVNT is on at the Assembly George Square (in the Box venue, naturally) at 8.20pm. 

Published: 23 Aug 2026