Search The Archive
We first see Stella - school-aged but alrear an old hand at prostitution - walking through a London park in short dress and pigtails, ice-cream cone in hand. She calmly services a gent on a bench, keeping cone intact and moves on to her next client. Stella Does Tricks is a distinctively Glaswegian blend of deadpan comedy, poetic realism and the unexpected.
Stella somehow manages a giggle about sex with her hooker friends despite the unwelcome attentions of oily pimps and malodorous thugs. Trying to break the cycle of childhood abuse, she moves south to the capital in the time-honoured Scottish tradition. First she has a score settle with her father before she can bid her past goodbye. Confronting him at his nightclub gig with a full can of lighter fuel, the incendiary incident that ensues is simultaneously violently vengeful, comic and shocking. Drug-damaged boyfriends and vengeful hustlers, however, prove more difficult to shake off.