REVIEWS

I'm happy to say I have honestly never had a terrible review. Here are some of my favourites, for obvious reasons.

From BEAT Magazine, Wed 27th August 1997 by Carla Grossetti

SHE CALLED ME HONEY BUNNY – Theatre Basilica

Written and Directed by Camille Scaysbrook
Performed by: Tom Holley and Ben Scales.

She Called Me Honey Bunny presents a world which could only succeed in the theatre.

It's one in which the audience is a fly on the wall in the apartment of two seemingly dysfunctional slobs. As every detail of their world is in your face - the overflowing ashtrays, crusty pizza boxes, bong, empty mull bowl, empty chip packet, empty fridge, Pulp Fiction posters and pornos - you can immediately make assumptions about the characters.

The play introduces Ben Scales and Tom Holley as the crotch- scratching, filthy pyjama wearing pothead flatmates. They are initially presented to the audience as chronically selfish, stupid, smelly, unmotivated and unhygienic. It's when we learn the boys' flatmate Lauren has gone away for three weeks and locked the beer, pot cigarettes and food in her own room, that the dynamics of the two characters emerge. She says if they break down her door, they will lose their bond. It's at this point the energy and momentum in the play changes as these two unshaven sacks of odours are actually forced to make decisions.

Written by Camille Scaysbrook, She Called Me Honey Bunny embraces the handy notion of the perpetrators as victims and indulges in the nature of voyeurism. The script is wonderfully original as we are shut in the private festering living room watching the interchanges of emotional tyrany as these intimate rivals swap banter which changes from cutting and caustic to personal and sincere.

While both of these couch potatoes seem like magnificent failures, the seductive subtext changes as sabotage and betrayal emerge to seize and exploit the most unprincipled of the two. Both actors work really well in this strong character based script.

The play is also added to and built on by the voice of Lauren and others which cut in on the answering machine and force the two to act and the audience to eavesdrop. In the end, the betrayer emerges and one of the two is shat upon.

This was not expected, therefore was wonderfully sinister and a variation on the familiar `guys in their apartment' theme.

This play will be performed at the Basilica Theatre for the next three weeks.

Go and see it !

BEAT magazine (Theatre listing)

`Camille Scaysbrook is back with a vengeance in a well written and highly enjoyable piece of theatre. Think of it as a `No Exit' for the grunge generation. Think of it however you want, just go and see it, in an atmospheric venue with a lot of charm. Ben Scales and Tom Holley go at it hammer and tong in an urban comic psychodrama. A must see !'

From BEAT Magazine, 14th April 1997 by Oscar Hillerstrom

AM I YOUR DREAM ? - Theatre Basilica

Written by Camille Scaysbrook
Directed by Melissa Newell
Performed by Ryan Paranthoiene and Amanda Peterson

Youth is wasted on the young, said George Bernard Shaw. Not so. Theatre is wasted on the bourgeoisie. Roundabout's Am I Your Dream ? is theatre for the undernourished minds of the Condom Generation. Not only are the production qualities high for a production of little or no budget, but it is a night of entertainment unsullied by ego and pretention. Camille Scaysbrook wrote the piece when she was sixteen, but unlike so many of her more illustrious contemporaries, decided to write about something she actually knew - to wit, adolescent relationships. For those of the older theatregoing set, it may not be a subject close to their hearts. For those of us searching for a spark of originality and insight, it is deeply satisfying. Movement, dialogue, music and light are bandied around by a fearless cast and crew, seemingly unaware of what they can and cannot do. The tiny space above the Cafe was jam packed with a mixture of fourteen year olds and aging cafe vultures whose applause was not condescending but appreciative.

Ryan Paranthoiene and Amanda Peterson performed with aplomb, Peterson having flashes of quiet brilliance, and Paranthoiene a mix of vigour, swagger and charm. The format was very short, almost a homage to the diminishing attention spans of today's youth, yet the cuts from scene to scene were razor sharp, belying the equipment on hand. Melissa Newell directs the four pieces that make up the performance with a curt aplomb that combines the pathos and comedy of youth in an immediately accessable way. For any aspiring thespian, Am I Your Dream ? is a how-to manual.

The only drawbacks for the regular theatre going public will be the drawbacks of youth's inexperience in the subject matter. Deep insights for an adolescent may at times appear twee to the jaded, ageing cynic. If you do manage to unravel your heart from the barbed wire of broken dreams, Am I Your Dream ? will take you back to when life was fresh.

AM I YOUR DREAM , Fresh Fruit Theatre, The Adelaide Fringe Festival

Written by Camille Scaysbrook
Directed by Melissa Newell
Performed by Ryan Paranthoiene and Natasha Gorsevski

`Am I Your Dream’ has already gained itself a reputation, winning the ICI/Sydney Theatre Company Young Playwright’s Award in 1995. This production further consolidates its author’s aim of creating a wholly authentic adolescent voice that speaks of relevant issues. For Camille Scaysbrook, this doesn’t mean writing a play about anorexic, drug addicted pregnant teenagers with AIDS, or `this week’s popular cause’. In writing a play about a pivotal moment in the lives of two young people Scaysbrook has found she has created a play for all ages. The play centres around a boy and girl who see each other, their perfect partners, and agonise about what to say or do. Will they seize the chance or let it go by?

As it is principally a pair of internal dialogues, the set is minimal, with only a screen and a pair of chairs. Both characters speak directly to the audience, and it is a credit to all that their angst is so truthfully portrayed that we feel as though we are really getting to know these two people. The performance I saw at the Fresh Fruit Theatre had to cope with poor acoustics and very loud traffic noise – consequently the performance took a few minutes to hit the right pitch, during Natasha Gorsevski’s first long monologue. The raw and heartfelt portrayals of Gorsevski and Ryan Paranthoiene grabbed me from then on, and as I hurried off into the night, bittersweet, long forgotten memories of similar incidents in my own life began flooding back.

This is honest theatre that nourishes the soul – congratulations to all at Roundabout.