IT’S a topic that will make you squirm in your seat, if not in delight.

Isabel Hertaeg has turned the bedroom into her soapbox for her one-woman cabaret comedy, La Petite Mort – The Orgasm.

Ms Hertaeg challenges long-standing conventions between the sheets in a one-hour kinky expose of sexuality, hysteria, love, science, hormones and the female orgasm.

“Female sexuality was treated as an illness for 2000 years. I’ve always been fascinated with hysteria, and I wanted to know more,” she said.

“I had a whole lot of sexy songs that I wanted to sing as well, so I put the two together and it’s kind of become this romp.

“As a performer, I want to entertain first and foremost and see what I can sneak in under the radar as well and I think people do go home and think about it.”

Female hysteria was a once-common medical diagnosis for women. Treatment included pelvic massages and prompted the invention of the vibrator.

In her research for the show, Ms Hertaeg also discovered a study that found people in love had similar symptoms to people suffering with obsessive compulsive disorder, giving new meaning to the term love sick.

“When I first did it, I thought ‘Oh my God, is this going to ruin my career?’ The show can, occasionally with the wrong audience, be a disaster.”

Ms Hertaeg said she made a particular effort not to terrify the men in her audience.

The show will be performed at Footscray’s Dog Theatre for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Ms Hertaeg will be coming to the Dog Theatre on 26 to 28 March and 1, 2, 3, 8 9, 10 April. To book, visit www.comedyfestival.com.au