Banner image caption: the receiver and cord for a red rotary phone lies on top of an open Yellow Pages. A pencil and a plain green business card also sits on the page. The card reads: The Hotline. Call now.
The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
——————————————————————— You are number < 1 > in the queue ———————————————————————Operators are standing by to take your call. Should you wish to receive unbiased information, please hang up immediately.
Accessed via a 1800 number, The Hotline allows callers to explore anecdotes on reproductive healthcare via a phone menu with each user creating their own choose-your-own-adventure style narrative. Satirising anti-choice pregnancy helplines, The Hotline explores how patriarchal medicine impacts those experiencing reproductive health issues.
Click here to find out more about accessing The Hotline.
“Navigating Kasey Gambling’s deliriously cheerful, malignantly patriarchal parody of a reproductive healthcare “help” line feels like being stuck in limbo, halfway between The Handmaid’s Tale and The Stepford Wives.”
Creator Kasey Gambling
Sound Design Josie Steele
Photo/Video Jez Hunghanfoo & Kasey Gambling
Produced by The Honeytrap
“Confronting, infuriating and playful all at once.”
Melbourne Fringe - Oct 3rd - 22nd 2023
Counihan Gallery A Climate for Change - Nov 4th - Dec 9th 2023
Queen Victoria Women’s Centre Women* Now - Dec 7th 2023 - Jan 25th 2024
Adelaide Fringe - Feb 16th - Mar 17th 2024
Nominated for Best Experimental Game in the 2024 Freeplay Independent Games Festival.
Shortlisted for the 2023 New Media Writing Prize (Main category, Social Good category).
Content warning: this work covers the following topics including lived experiences about abortion, medical procedures and inadequate reproductive care surrounding postpartum experiences, Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, menopause, gender transition, hysterectomy and fertility. To find out what to expect during The Hotline, visit our content and sensory guide for more information on accessibility, our privacy policy and content.
Media
Confronting, funny, mind-bendingly weird: Fringe theatre kicks off with a phone call, The Age, October 3rd, 2023
The Hotline review, Melbourne Arts, October 3rd, 2023
Performance reviews: The Hotline, Poet No.7 and Zaffé, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Arts Hub, October 10th, 2023
Freeplay Award Nominees 24, Freeplay, January 24th, 2024
Shortlist 2023, New Media Writing Prize, May 11th, 2024
Trailer
In a public phone booth, a woman picks up the phone. We see them from behind and in profile, although their face is slightly obscured by graffiti on the booth. The camera stays static on the payphone and its display; it shows a string of numbers as though the person has made their way through a long phone menu. Occasionally, she presses a number on the keypad. Eventually, she hangs up and leaves. The payphone’s display says ‘Goodbye’.