Messy
solo drama/comedy
Written and performed by Samantha CARLISLE | Directed by Dara BETH | Produced by SPARK IN THE DARK
18+, partial nudity, language, sexually explicit content, mentions of violence and GBV
Messy is a brand-spanking-new, semi-autobiographical solo show for the horny & unsatisfied. It follows Sam, an online sex worker, as she explores her chaotic and messy relationship with sex, love, and intimacy. It is a deeply personal story in which she attempts to figure out where she has gone wrong, whether or not romantic love is on the cards for her, and why the (expletive) it’s so hard to have an orgasm during sex. This piece is a bawdy tribute to all the disappointing one-night stands, the short-lived shags, the tender moments we share with people who end up disappointing us, and the divas who found themselves saying “I should just quit my job and sell feet pics instead”. It is a show for all of the women and femmes who are having to refigure out the modern landscape of desirability, dating, feminism, and our attraction to men.
EARLY REVIEWS
“As your mom… NOOOO! But divorced from that… great”- Samantha’s mom
“ballsy”, “important”, and “embarrassingly relatable” (which she assumes is a compliment).
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer & Performer - Samantha Carlisle
Samantha Carlisle is a part-time mess, full-time actress, writer, and producer. While she was born and bred in the Eastern Cape, her work has travelled far and wide. Most notably she played the role of Renee in Some Mothers’ Sons, the film adaptation of Mike van Graan’s renowned play. Some Mothers’ Sons travelled to film festivals all over Africa, America, the UK, and Europe and is currently available to watch on Showmax. She then went on to play Amelia in Joanna Evans' The Year of the Bicycle from 2022-2024, a piece she also produced. Most recently, she had a small role in an Afrikaans TV series called Wyfie. Her work balances lighthearted comedy, lived experience, and personal and societal observations. When she is not partaking in the anxiety-inducing, debilitating, Sisyphean task of writing her solo show, she can be found working on a myriad of projects that aim to rejuvenate the South African theatre scene and make it more accessible for women and gender-diverse theatre-makers. She works as a producer for Spark in the Dark and also oversees daily operations and communications for Kgokelo, a sustainable network for women and gender-diverse playwrights in South Africa.
Director - Dara Beth
Dara Beth is an angry Jewish queer feminist and award-winning director and writer. Their main focus is to provide an audience with a language and vocabulary to explore new worlds. Through tales that are raunchy, witty, tongue-in-cheek, high-energy, bubblegum pop, biting, quirky, honest, unflinching, and occasionally self-indulgent and overly romantic, Dara aims to evoke a sense of joy, inspire connections, and instigate pleasurable introspection.
Dara has written and staged multiple original works for various festivals and theatres such as Nasty Womxn, Just A Song And A Dance, Lolly and all my ex-lovers are dead to name a few. Dara has been nominated for Fleur du Cap, BroadwayWorld, and Kanna awards. When not producing their own work, Dara often works as a facilitator, director, designer, and producer.
In 2023, Dara was awarded a grant from South Africa’s National Arts Council with which they founded Kgokelo, the South African Women and Gender-Diverse Playwrights Network and Database. In 2024, Dara joined forces with Spark in the Dark–a South African production company dedicated to making space and opportunities for artists to share their voices.
In 2025, Dara is set to direct their first feature film and a host of new theatre productions.
Stage Manager - Cailyb Prinsloo
Cailyb Prinsloo is a writer, director, and producer grown on Eastern Cape soil and seeking fortune in Cape Town. She holds a Masters degree in writing for performance and is a proud recipient of a Silver Standard Bank Ovation award for the 2022 run of What Do You Think the Birds are Doing? Cailyb enjoys making works that meditate on themes of hope and fear, making people laugh, and a good cup of coffee.