Trans Woman Kills Influencer online REVIEW 9 Mar 2014 ***

THEATRE ON SCREEN

Trans Woman Kills Influencer by Dax Carnay

At La Mama Theatre On Screen: Online Season: Feb 13 - Feb 27, 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: *** (3)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 10 March 2024. It is a review of the live production On Screen. KH

Image by Darren Gill supplied. Cast names not provided.

Trans Woman Kills Influencer, by Dax Carnay, tells its story from the perspectives of the four characters, until finally reaching its denouement after 70 minutes.

 

The title of the play is certainly an attention grabber, and the premise has dramatic potential, which is fulfilled to some degree in parts, and most effectively in its final scene.

 

Denise, known as Dee, is a trans woman who manages the advertising campaign for the evidently straight, male influencer, Alejandro, who, for some reason, is promoting a feminine hygiene product.

 

Dee’s colleague and frenemy, Jen, is frustrated and angry that Dee took the senior position in the agency that Jen believes she deserved. The fourth character is Dee’s shrill and high-camp personal assistant.

 

The narrative unfolds in sections, each presented from the perspective of a different character. Each character’s view generates stereotypes of the other characters in their story. 

 

For example, Jen is represented as angry, aggressive and vile from the others’ perspectives. In her own version, she is milder, reasonable and more genuinely distressed when she tries to explain why she believes a man who has become a woman is just another man who is taking a high-level job from a woman.

 

Part of the story is told in video projections of TV interviews or  stylish Vlog and influencer posts. All the characters are American, placing this story firmly on another continent that is notorious for its melodramatic and over-acted soap operas, which are echoed in this production.

 

Some of the potential drama and authenticity of the story is lost because of the hysterical behaviour of characters in particular scenes.

 

However, Trans Woman Kills Influencer is certainly a novel and catchy idea.

 

by Kate Herbert

 

Written By Dax Carnay

Directed by Emmanuelle Mattana

Performed by Dax Carnay, Khema De Silva, Vateresio Tuikaba and Ryan Henry

Stage Direction by Finn McLeish

Set and Costume Design by Filipe Filihia

 

Content Warnings: Violence, Hate Speech, Haze, Strobe, Blood, Use of Replica Weapons