Are you aware of the ‘Born Sexy Yesterday’ trope? Prevalent in sci-fi, it refers to otherworldy female beings like aliens or robots who resemble sexually attractive young women, but with a childlike persona that can be moulded by the male protagonist. Anna Leong Brophy wasn’t familiar with it either, until a friend pointed it out during a viewing of The Fifth Element. From such embers do wildfires grow. The result is this extraordinary show, immaculately structured and performed, which exposes the tropes – and the prevalence of the male gaze – in our favourite cinema. The emphasis is firmly on comedy, but with just the right amount of polemical fury.

Emerging from an egg, Leong Brophy latches on to the first man she sees in the first instance of some involved crowdwork that demonstrates some serious trust in the audience. Fast-forward 10 years, and she’s living in oblivious domestic bliss until she discovers a literal plot device in his trousers. Realising she’s been at the mercy of a patriarchal father/husband/god figure, she embarks on a quest of self-realisation.

Performed with the self-assurance of a tremendously talented actor, and with the zeal of a recent religious convert, Anna throws every weapon in her considerable arsenal at her subject and expects the audience to keep up. ‘Born Sexy Yesterday’ could have easily fallen victim to its own urgency and ambition, but the writing is crisp and clear, the pacing and comic rhythms fluid, and the staging simple but robust. Highlights include a rapid-fire performance of several common tropes: Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Femme Fatale, the Damsel in Distress, etc, and an attempt at passing the Bechdel test involving an audience member with some serious acting chops of her own.

Some of the targets here may seem obvious, but only with the benefit of hindsight. One section sees the obviously very knowledgable performer point out the short shrift given to female characters in numerous films suggested by the audience. Some are so glaring you could kick yourself for not spotting them sooner, but it’s suprising how recently some of these long-standing narrative conventions have been quantified and assessed. And the aim is always to enlighten and entertain. There is no finger-wagging here.

What should be made clear is that ‘Born Sexy Yesterday’ is not by any stretch an academic treatise, nor an assault on anyone’s right to enjoy the films in question. Nor does it rage against men as a whole. Rather, it’s an expression of frustration at over a century of storytelling convention, which can be extrapolated out to the roles women have traditionally been allowed to fulfil everywhere.

‘Born Sexy Yesterday’ is for sure strident and impassioned, but it’s a thoroughly entertaining and frequently hilarious call for better roles for women (not just on screen), and, subtextually, for greater media literacy. Being cine-literate is a benefit for maximum enjoyment, but absolutely not a pre-requisite. Even if you don’t know your Wes Andersons from your Paul Thomas Andersons (or even Paul WS Andersons, no snobbery here), there are delights aplenty.

β€˜Born Sexy Yesterdayβ€˜ is at Below at Pleasance Courtyard from Wed 5 to Sun 30 Aug 2026