Reviews and Buzz

People have said really nice things about my work. Sometimes these people happen to be journalists. Sometimes they are audience members. Either way, if you are considering producing one of my shows, or attending one of them, you may want to know what it is that people say.

 

“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…”

(Gutter Culture)

Read the rest here!

“a performance of absolute painful authenticity and honesty… Moore’s timing has the natural rhythm and cadence of real life. And so does this tense, breathtaking little show.”

Read the rest of the review here!

“a smart, complex, sex-positive one-woman show, with a sadness that is buoyed by Moore’s darkly brilliant humour and ability to see the humanity in everyone.”

Read the full review here!

“… beautifully and insightfully written, precisely directed and exquisitely, unflinchingly acted. … Cameryn’s play is the kind of show you’d expect to see off-Broadway or in London’s pub theatres as is her performance and we’re getting to see it here in the little Artpoint Gallery space.”

Read the full review here!

“She appears nervous at first, stammering out apologies to the audience in between frantic phone calls to see when her fellow performers are going to arrive, but it’s clear that Moore’s in full control the whole time, playing on our sympathies for the person who’s laying her heart so bare to a room full of strangers. She’s also got perfect comedic timing and a knack for casually dropping hilarious one-liners.”

Read the full review here!

“Cameryn Moore bares all. She enters the stage with breasts flying and body exposed, and by the end she reveals a pound of absolute humanity in a visceral and honest performance.

nerdfucker starts of as comedy but naturally evolves into a dramatic character dissection that will leave you in comedic stitches and guttural feelings.”

Read the full review here!

“Phone Whore is a show that is equal parts witty, sexually frank and dripping with cynicism. A thought-provoking and sometimes harrowing journey into the often-silenced and ignored world of sex work and sexual fantasy, the show packs an incredible punch whilst still being able to deliver a nuanced and thoughtful take on sex and those who work in it.”

Read the rest here!

WHY do I always look constipated while I'm typing? I need to work on that look...

WHY do I always look constipated while I’m typing? I need to work on that look…

A week ago, a dream of mine came true: I was “discovered” out there on the Smut Stand! A journalist just happened to be walking by the Smut Stand in Manchester, was so intrigued that she came back the next day for an interview and a commissioned piece, and then wrote about the encounter with plenty of time (and links!) to possibly generate interest and ticket sales for my show in the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival. You can read this piece right here. (Oh, and my show got a great review during that festival, BTW, you can read it right here.)

The difference between dream and reality, though, is that in my dreams, I am the one providing all the fantasy material. In reality, two or more people interact with each other, with their own biases and mis/preconceptions at play. Real life and “the dream” so rarely match up.

Thus it was with my dream of being discovered. I should have known better, having been a journalist in a past life, and having experienced enough other interviews as a performer. I know that journalists come into encounters with agendas, either their own or their publication’s; I know they are not to be trusted, not like an evil malevolent force, just like a stone in a river that looks sturdy, but could end up being slippery or unstable or a large angry turtle. I was so excited by the dream, that I let my guard down. Silly me.

It was interesting, certainly, to read about the Smut Stand experience from the point of view of the customer. I only ever see still photographs of me doing work, and feedback about the experience normally comes in the form of post-smut tweets. The writer had seemed very excited and into Sidewalk Smut when she was out there talking to me, so I forgot to be cautious. Out there, I take people at face value. She was taking notes. I should have remembered from my own time in journalism that note-taking in the middle of an interview is uniformly bullshit. So her information about my shows, and the way that I talked about them, was of course RIDDLED WITH INACCURACIES, like

  • I never said that Phone Whore is emotionally violating. I am so so careful about how I tell people about that play, and I pretty much never vary that pitch. I say that it’s thought-provoking and challenging and a lot of people find parts of it disturbing, but “emotionally violating”, coming from the playwright, is a different kettle of fish, one that I would not touch.
  • 
I don’t know where she got a play title called “slut fucker”. That sounds boring.
  • No one “headlines” at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, or at most any other theatre festival.

And the bit about reading her smut very loudly? Not possible. She just suddenly felt on the spot and self-conscious, having something sexual, created especially for her, being even spoken out loud. I don’t read finished pieces of smut to customers loudly, unless I have the express invitation of the customer to share it with the group that they’re with. Otherwise, I am practically reading it into people’s ears. I am fully aware of my volume out there. I don’t want to get busted for public obscenities.

Also, I want to point out that I work with the specs that the customers give me. The journalist was the one who said, “Oh, hardcore. Go hardcore!” and asked about doing a threesome. If I had thought twice about the possibility that she would suddenly develop delicate sensibilities for the purposes of plausible deniability and her on-page persona, I would have scaled it back. A good immersive writer accepts responsibility for their own involvement.

I would like, someday soon, to be discovered by journalists who can actually handle the source material, that is, smut and sex and, well, me. As a friend said, “That’s not going to happen. You’re going to have to carve it out yourself.” I know this already.

<sigh>

Excuse me while I put the edge back on my machete. If I’ve got to hack my own path to fame, I’m gonna have to stay sharp.

*****

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