Messy, Theatre
Venue: Victoria Girl’s High School Gymnasium
Next Performance: Thursday 03 July 20:00
Review and Interview
By Maleruo Leponesa
Samantha Carlisle, writer and performer of the semi-autobiographical Messy, says, “it’s about my personal journey with sex, love, intimacy and my experiences of sex work, specifically online sex work as an OnlyFans creator; and all the terrible, terrible men I’ve been with.”
Carlisle says her target audience is women because most women can relate when they watch her show. However, she says it is also important for men to see it as well. “They’re the ones that could actually learn something from this because, I mean, you know, misogyny is something that grows from a really small seed, so it starts with casual slut-shaming, you know, in school, and it works its way up to things so much more insidious like rape and sexual assault and gender-based violence and that sort of thing. So, I think it’s really important for men to see plays like this.”
I appreciated the fact that Samantha relates her personal experiences, and I found it very brave and bold, and as a woman I could identify with most parts of the play. It could bring a sense of connection or even healing, in some instances, to women who have been in uncomfortable circumstances related to love, sex and intimacy. I am also one of the people who feels relieved when I learn that I am not the only person to ever experience that, especially if it is unpleasant incident.
In conclusion, Samantha says “people have been very understanding and kind and after watching my plays they’ve said, ‘oh, I related to that or that made me feel…’. One of the things I get a lot is, ‘this show is embarrassingly relatable,’ which I’m assuming is a compliment. Throughout my life, people in general, men in general, not always great, it’s rough in these streets. I think there are lots of lovely men in my life and I appreciate the ones that are kind, but many, many men have slut-shamed me and made me feel bad about myself, made me feel bad about the work that I do, send me threatening texts on Instagram and that sort of thing.”
