Talk about coincidences. I’m pretty sure that when director Joe Depasquale chose to stage James Johnson’s psychological drama The Audition as part of this year’s Evenings on Campus, he had no idea that it would be performed right in the middle of a raging controversy concerning a well-known local actor and his allegedly unorthodox auditioning techniques.

The billing must have caught the attention of a number of punters, particularly with a tag line that read: “A director tests how far an actress will go to get the part.” It is, indeed, a pity that so few turned up to see this intriguing and well-performed play.

The play was written by Johnson when he was just 19 and has been produced at least once in the past 10 years since it was written. It is a two hander for two female actors that explores various themes, including obsession, manipulation and the art of theatre direction itself.

Lauren (played by the talented Tina Rizzo) is a budding actress obsessed with becoming famous. She attends an audition for a must-have part in a play she knows very little about. At the audition she meets the director, Stella (played by Aleksandra Andrea), who has very unorthodox views about how an audition should be conducted and what it takes to mould the perfect actor.

All credit goes to Depasquale for choosing to stage a bold, fresh and relevant play

The audition ends up spanning over three days during which Stella pushes Lauren to her mental, physical, emotional and ethical limits.

This was Depasquale’s first foray into directing and it was overall a very good effort from his part. I have no idea whether he did hold auditions for the parts, but whatever methodology he employed he made a fine choice in his casting of the two characters.

Andrea played Stella as an icy cool character that kept the audience guessing the real motive behind her actions. Her delivery was crisp and clear and her body language consistent with her character.

Rizzo played the young Lauren as a somewhat naïve, but inquisitive, character. Despite a tentative start, she developed the character through the entire play, layering it with interesting nuances along the way.

I was particularly impressed with her acting during her recollection of the time she was raped by her uncle as an eight year old. The two actors worked well as a pair, although the sexual undercurrent between the two and the black humour was not particularly well developed.

Similarly, the moments of physicality between the two were unconvincing and threatened to make me lose interest. Luckily, these moments were brief and overall my interest was sustained till the end.

Given that the play was staged in the open- air, Depasquale opted for wireless microphones to ensure that the actors could be heard. On the whole, this worked well and helped the actors keep the action intimate, while still retaining clarity.

A more imaginative lighting design, however, would have really helped create a stronger sense of drama and focus the audience’s attention better in the more intimate scenes.

All credit goes to Depasquale for choosing to stage a bold, fresh and relevant play. His sense of timing turned out to be impeccable.