4 stars
We were in no way prepared for what this show would deliver, despite going into it knowing full well that it would be confronting. It's a show that provides no definitive answers to any of the myriad questions you'll have as you walk out. Perhaps at the end, perhaps not.
Image courtesy of The Fxxk Yxu
Cameryn Moore: Phone Whore explores power dynamics and the nature of kink in an incredible, devastating performance that fills in the lines between fantasy and the reality that inspires it. Moore’s skills as a storyteller and actor shine through in both the monologue pieces and the calls that “Larissa” receives while signed on to work.
She's working, of course, from home. In a scene of domestic mundanity, she sits on a comfy chair with a small table at her side. The calls start as vanilla phone sex fantasies, and gradually we’re introduced to her broader range of clients. The calls serve as a device that moves the performance forward. This proves to be a thoroughly effective structural technique; the tension building with each interruption to the character's candid monologue.
The show quite reasonably asks you to accept a premise by outlining the psychological basis for sexual fantasy. It then projects that premise to its logical conclusion with an unrelenting inevitability that will challenge any audience member.
It isn’t an easy show to watch. Far from it. What it is, however, is one of the most confronting and thought-provoking pieces of theatre that we’ve seen.
Tickets available from the FRINGE WORLD website.
GLEN SEABROOK-BENSON