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SCENE IT: Carlisle charms in unfocussed MESSY
- Barbara Loots
- Oct 21
- 3 min read
Barbara Loots
It takes a ton of guts to bear your soul and trauma to an audience in a very exposed and intimate manner. MESSY, currently onstage at the Theatre Arts until 25 October 2025, shows that Samantha Carlisle has the required bravery of spirit in spades.
MESSY is a very intimate exchange between Carlisle and her audience. It plays like someone sharing various diary entries or presenting an adults-only Ted Talk. It has the ingredients for a fully fleshed out play, but it hasn’t reached that level of development yet.
Billed as a “bawdy show” that “brazenly tackles the trials and tribulations of online sex work and modern dating” I walked in with high expectations. The show promises to reconsider “the modern landscape of desirability, dating, feminists, and their attraction to men”, but doesn’t really hit the mark in offering something new or reconsidered from a theatrical perspective. There is always space for another sex-positive play that portrays feminism as more than just angry women raging against misogyny and male domination. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for a good anger induced rage play at the right time, but any promise of a fresh perspective and voice needs to be welcomed with much applause.
I walked out of MESSY having laughed at some clever lines, and not worse for spending a good 60 minutes in a theatre, but it was not the invigorating show I expected this dramedy to be. It rushes through the sexual awakening, disappointments, self-doubt and empowerment of the central character who proudly shares with the audience that she does not regret starting an OnlyFans inspired by Joe Exotic type branding and a Love Island aspirational alter ego. However, the play leaves you with nothing substantive to justify the brief theatrical inventions that Carlisle hints at.
At best one could say that currently MESSY is reminiscent of a therapy session, and one that very clearly has humorous lines and gets the audience on Carlisle’s side. In doing so though it makes space for too many voices that jump out at you in quick succession, from an inner cheerleader to external physical and mental abusers. Where a real therapy session would tackle relationship triggers one at a time and unpack them gradually the audience is rather given an abridged cheat sheet and asked to keep up.
Viewed thusly, MESSY has too many relationship inspired thematic triggers (friendly, romantic, aspirational, authoritative, abusive, and parental) with a myriad of accompanying sub-themes that muddy the waters of what is actually just the story of a girl who needs to accept herself and realise that she is not the sum of other people’s opinions or her experiences. With so many voices and moving parts to Carlisle’s introspection in MESSY, it does not allow the audience the opportunity to experience any one moment fully.
MESSY does sporadically offer dramatic moments in a show dressed up as self-deprecating comedy with giggle-worthy quips, but the structure of the play does not allow the audience to fully appreciate the weight and potential discomfort of these moments. There is no harm in allowing moments to breathe, especially in a show of such an intimate nature.
Carlisle definitely has stage presence and comes across as an endearing character. She has the acting chops to step even further outside of her comfort zone to refine the play’s central elements and evolve it into a coherent story that has theatrical punch. At present its biggest draw is Carlisle herself as the charming narrator. That may be enough for many to walk out impressed with the offering. But it is hard to say “good-enough” when there is so much potential in the subject matter viewed through a single central character/colourful alter ego. MESSY can be so much more than just onstage therapy.
Too many characters, styles, themes, and unnecessary stage props result in MESSY not having a clear theatrical identity at present. If Carlisle can get rid of the clutter, then the show can take shape as a nuanced offering with clear transitions and focal points.
MESSY, written and performed by Samantha Carlisle with direction by Dara Beth, plays at Theatre Arts in Observatory until 25 October 2025. Tickets can be booked online at theatrearts.co.za/show/messy at R120pp. Please note the show carries an age restriction of 18 because of partial nudity, language, sexually explicit content, and mentions of violence and GBV.