Let’s talk about sex. Or perhaps you’re thinking ‘I’d rather we didn’t, actually. Not in News Shopper’.

It’s that kind of national reluctance to talk about y’know, doing it, that led Bromley actress/artist Rachel Lincoln to create a bold and hilarious show that’s returning to London next month.

Lie Back and Think of England is one of 70 gigs, shows and parties in the tunnels beneath Waterloo that make up Vault Festival for six weeks from January 28.

Rachel’s one woman show, which runs from February 4 to 8, has already won rave reviews with words like ‘clever’, ‘inventive’, ‘powerful’ and ‘original’ spilling forth from critics.

It’s a physical comedy show about a supply teacher who turns up to a classroom and then finds out, to her horror, that she has to teach sex education.

The result is a surreal ‘class’ where the audience are the pupils who are taught via naughty flipcharts and the erotic puppetry of felt tip pens.

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The 25-year-old, who studied at the BRIT school and spent two years at the prestigious Jacques Lecoq mime school in Paris,  told News Shopper she was inspired by her own ‘not great’ sex education while at Hayes School.

She said: “There is a lot of sex education that is based on the physical, the ins and outs of it, and not so much the emotional side effects or the awkwardness talking about it or any of those kind of taboos.

“That’s what the play explores: the awkwardness, the shyness but also the pleasure and the joy and that kind of stuff.”

It takes a brave person to be willing to stand on stage talking about and acting out sex acts but Rachel says she doesn’t find any of it too uncomfortable.

She said: “Because I play a character who is very uncomfortable and very over the top and quite absurd, as a performer you can kind of hide behind the character.

“The only thing that was uncomfortable was having my parents come to see it and my aunt come to see it and my cousins.”

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Even discussing the awkwardness of her family seeing the show was clearly awkward for Rachel.

“There are some scenes, you know, that are kind of a bit uncomfortable,” she said.

“There’s a scene in the play where I use a guitar and kind of explore with the guitar, you know, like a masturbation scene. A joke. Very, very playful and very light.

“My aunt said to my cousin ‘you want to go and see Rachel have an orgasm on stage’.

“It was really terrible, but funny. It sounds really awkward to talk about but the play’s not so awkward.”

Clearly this isn’t a show for kids but Rachel said both grown-up audiences (teachers in particular) and teenagers have loved it.

She said: “It’s more for an adult audience but it is also perfect for teenagers because it explores what it is like at that age – 14, 15, 16 – first relationships, first time and all that kind of stuff.

“The adult audience looks back and thinks ‘oh gosh, I remember that’.”

Lie Back and Think of England is on from February 4 to 8 as part of Vault Festival in Waterloo. Tickets cost £13.50. Go to vaultfestival.com