Director: James Khoo
Playwright: Triana Amazonas
Cast: Triana Amazonas, Alex Rouse, Sahil Saluja, Luke Peverelle, & Daniel Jones
The transition into adulthood can be a frightening and confusing time. Knowing who you want to be is not easy to figure out, as Emma (Triana Amazonas) discovers in Emma and the House Special.
Directed by James Khoo, Emma and the House Special is the story of a young woman dissatisfied with spending her time sitting on the couch, watching TV with her friends, and ordering pizza. When the mysterious Real Estate Man shows up at her door offering the chance to live in an upper class share house, Emma agrees to live there for six months. But she soon realizes that the “Australian Dream” is not all that it seems.
Triana Amazonas’s performance as the carefree, yet confused Emma candidly reflects the lives of many young Australians. Sahil Saluja’s portrayal of Emma’s new roommate, Eric, is charming and endearing, and he and Amazonas have excellent chemistry, smoothly playing off each other’s performances. Another standout is Alex Rouse as the Real Estate Man, who is unpredictable and witty. The performances helped the play flow smoothly, and although there were a few dropped lines, the actors were able to incorporate it into their performance.
Emma and the House Special is Amazonas’ debut as a playwright. It accurately portrays current Australian culture and subtly reflects upon the uneasy transition into adulthood. Although the ending is a little anti-climactic as the audience is left hanging, wondering about the next step in Emma and Eric’s lives, overall the play is relatable and delightfully comic.
The theatre itself is a very intimate space, with couches and pillows for the audience to sit on. The set really helps to capture the lives of Amazonas’ characters, with only a couple of set changes between Emma’s old share house and her new one. The plain walls, milk crates and couches picked up from a front lawn represents the average Australian suburban lifestyle quite well. The only criticism of the set would be the placement of the door: when two actors had a conversation through the door, they had their backs to the audience, making it a bit difficult to see and hear both performances. Otherwise, the space is well utilized.
If you are in the midst of that confusing time between young adult and adulthood, you should definitely see Emma and the House Special, an enjoyable experience that is true to heart and endearing.
Emma and the House Special will run 17-19, 24-26, September, and 1-2 October, at the Scratch Warehouse Cave Theatre, 271-273 Macaulay Rd, North Melbourne, at 8:50pm each night. Book tickets at melbournefringe.com.au or call (03) 9660 9666.
See more at: http://buzzcuts.org.au/2015/08/adulthood-is-a-wonderland-an-interview-with-triana-amazonas-melbourne-fringe-2015/#sthash.v0v6MIgz.dpuf
