Review by Laura Money
So You Think You’re Charlie Smith examines the complex relationship we have with reality. Through the carefully constructed world of reality television, it highlights our obsession with the narrative we tell each other about ourselves. In a world of social media and interconnected global identity, where everything is about the cultivation of your personal brand, right down to the memories we feel and experience, writers Jackson Used and Ben Thomas have created a world where the cut-throat nature of image-as-everything is stripped back and presented to you in all its dangerous, ugly glory.
Three contestants are competing in the most brutal of reality shows. It is not specified exactly what the prize will be or what the dynamic really is. This is a clever parody that rips the guts out of the content in the way that only very good satire can. There is a wonderful undertone bubbling away as tension rises between the characters and power shifts and changes.
With a subtly flamboyant host whose shark-like smile never really matches his eyes and a stone-cold manager who hides behind impeccable hair and make-up to deliver a sinister grooming of the ‘perfect’ contestant, So you Think Your’r Charlie Smith has its finger firmly on the pulse of this interconnected and exposed society.
It’s an unreal world, the fishbowl that the contestants live in is getting smaller and smaller as the line between autonomy and manipulation wavers before your very eyes. How much is real? Come on down and find out!
When: 11 – 29th April 2017 | 7:00pm
Where: The Blue Room Theatre | PERTH
Tickets: $18 – $28
Info: Duration 75 minutes | No interval | Wheelchair accessible
Link: http://blueroom.org.au/events/so-you-think-youre-charlie-smith/