Merridy Eastman: There's a Bear in There (and he wants Swedish)

By MARGIE THOMSON

"Resting" actor Merridy Eastman, most famous for being a presenter on the ever-popular children's programme Play School, takes a job as receptionist at a faux luxury Darlinghurst brothel (with no ambition, she insists to her employer, Madam Didi, to cross to "the other side"). What follows, predictably enough, is a year of eyebrow-raising experiences, beginning with the nervous Gilbert ("all I want's a bit of spanky-spanky") and proceeding through the likes of Graham ("I didn't have my orgasm, I want one now!") to the hideous Darius Slade.

The main characters, though, are the women themselves - "the most interesting women in Sydney", Eastman believes. They're a stroppy lot, as you might expect, who have learned to cover up their vulnerabilities with a lot of tough talk.

Some of it's funny, most of it is fascinating, but Eastman manages the tightrope act of finding the humour without trivialising the gruesomeness of much of what goes on in Madam Didi's establishment. Occasionally, under severe provocation from particularly obnoxious clients, she gets serious: "I'd had my fill of callers like Dave ... To these men, a prostitute provided not just a blow job, she provided living proof that there were still women out there who knew their place ... " In the end, she's glad to get back to the almost equally precarious world of television. Actually, you can see her on screen here soon, as Eileen Unn in Always Greener.

* Published by Allen & Unwin, $29.95