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Sarah-Louise Young On ... Not Being a Porn Star

Sarah-Louise Young is regularly mistaken for a porn star but it isn't entirely her own fault. Sharing her name with the first British porn star to earn one million pounds for a single film means that the actress and cabaret performer is regularly inundated with emails, letters, Skype invites and even in one recent case, a marriage proposal. "People have even turned up to my gigs expecting to see the star of Even Hitler Had A Girlfriend and Sexy Secrets" says Young.  

The title of her last Edinburgh show, Time Out Critics’ Choice, Cabaret Whore, didn’t help with the confusion. Sarah-Louise has also dipped her toe into the adult entertainment world which may explain some of the more persistent offenders. “I used to write erotic fiction or ‘cliterature’ for Scarlet Magazine when I was a broke student and even had one of my stories published (Ultimate Decadence in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support) but that’s as far as it went”.  

Sarah-Louise comperes for a number of burlesque nights and has performed at the Pigalle Club, Café de Paris and Pizza on the Park in London. “I work with a lot of beautiful sexy ladies but I always tell the audience I get paid to keep my clothes on”.

  Whilst Sarah-Louise is busy working on her Edinburgh shows the other Sarah has apparently retired from the porn industry and is working as a lawyer in Germany, but her empire is still going strong. “On her Wikepedia page it says ‘Not to be confused with the adult entertainer Sarah-Louise Young', so I have returned the compliment by putting a link on my website saying ‘Not to be confused with the adult entertainer, Sarah Louise Young’.”  

So is there anything X-rated about this year’s shows? “I suppose a lot of my songs would be consisted adult but I’m on at 1.30pm this year so I’ve had to be careful in case there are children present!” says Sarah-Louise. Alongside her character based evening show, Cabaret Whore Encore! at Maggies’ Chamber, she will be performing daily at the Pleasance’s new cabaret venue, the Ghillie Dhu with Desmond O’Connor and Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer in a show called Me! Me! Me!.  

“Des has a wonderful song about necrophilia and Mr. B sings about doing something with a goat which is strictly after water shed material but fortunately we do write about other things”. The show features 14 original songs written and performed by the trio including ‘The Crack Song, Intimacy Junkie' and 'More Kissing In Porn’ which they assure us are child-friendly versions. Accompanying themselves on piano, accordion, ukulele, banjolele and percussion, the team will also be appearing in the Ghillie Dhu’s flagship show Vive Le Cabaret - with guest acts including Peter Straker, Pippa Evans and Frances Rufelle, it promises to be one of the highlights of this year’s fringe.  

So any chance of a change of career in the future? “The closest I might come to the sex industry now is playing a porn star in a musical” says Sarah-Louise. Three shows not being quite enough for her she will be rounding off her day by performing with the award winning improvised musical group, Showstopper! at the Gilded Balloon. “No two musicals are the same so who knows what part I'll be playing. I've been a pirate, a poet and a pole dancer so a porn star isn't too much of a stretch I guess.” Let’s just hope her mother isn't watching.

Cabaret Whore Encore! is at Laughing Horse @ The Three Sisters from 5-29 August 2010.

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