Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre (Woolloomooloo NSW), Mar 28 – Apr 11, 2025
Playwright: Nikita Waldron
Director: Mehhma Malhi
Cast: Harry Stacey, Ashan Kumar, Kurt Ramjan, Esha Jessy, Nikita Waldron
Images by Phil Erbacher
Theatre review
There must be more to her life than boys, but in her eponymous play Amber by Nikita Waldron, it certainly appears that her entire existence is shaped only by a series of romances and dalliances. From the age of fifteen, all Amber wanted was to find love, but unlike the books, movies and tv shows that form a regular cultural diet of high school girls some twenty years ago, things do not happen quite so easily.
Directed by Mehhma Malhi, Amber is a surprisingly earnest work that perhaps takes youth angst slightly too seriously. A greater exploration into comedic dimensions would deliver better entertainment, but the production’s dedication to the real concerns of girls like Amber, is a commendable one.
Waldron takes on the role of Amber, convincing at any age (from early teen to young adulthood) in the character’s evolution. Her performance lacks an organic quality that could make the material’s sentimentality ring true, but her verve helps sustain our attention. A commensurately vibrant supporting cast adds further zest to the piece; Harry Stacey, Ashan Kumar, Kurt Ramjan and Esha Jessy create the many likeable personalities who come in and out of Amber’s orbit.
Set design by Hailley Hunt is appropriately sanguine in approach. Lights by Izzy Morrissey, along with sounds by Madeleine Picard, are memorable for comical punctuations they introduce at choice moments.
There are some segments in modern societies, where we are able to provide so much for our young, that they seem unable to worry about anything but frivolous matters. We then become frustrated and resentful of their apathetic attitudes towards the bigger things, after having ensured that they circumvent challenges previous generations have had to tolerate. One wishes that Amber could expend her energies in more meaningful ways, but it appears that she has been shielded from so much, so that the only vulnerable aspect left to her existence, are matters of the heart.
Suzy Goes See 