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A Peak Behind Peep!
Dear reader,
Now that Venus in Fur and the Anywhere Festival are over, we are on full steam to the next project: Peep by Jodi Gray.
Peep is a darkly comic tale of voyeurism and obsession. In present-day Brisbane (originally written to be set in Dublin, Ireland), Caitlin and May, two young women, spy on their mutual ex-lover in his home, from an apartment window across the street, witnessing his prowess with a succession of sexual conquests. Caitlin and May are here, as they claim because he did them wrong. He has done something to them, and their plan is to systematically approach his next victims and warn them off.
They say they want to protect the other girls, let them know what he does, prevent him from continuing his deplorable treatment of women, and contempt for their privacy. They want to scare them away until he ends up all alone.
Sounds cheeky and fair enough to me. But that is only the original premise, the tip of the iceberg so to speak, as the play unfolds. Beneath the bursts of girlie chat and friendly interactions, there is an implied uneasiness, an uncomfortable tension. Even though they teamed up against a common enemy and towards a shared goal, they resent each other bitterly, with an underlying jealousy and competition, as they keep at their vigil and work to recruit their ex-lover’s latest conquests into the watch.
The play is a welcome addition to the stock of plays by young women writers, for women actors and focusing on women's issues and perspectives. It is a given, the issues are stretched to an extreme and go well out of hand. But, it makes for great entertainment. It is the extreme that brings us to think, ponder, and discuss the issues at hand.
A note-worthy observation is that the two characters have names, May and Caitlin. And the women they spy are named as well. But their main interest, their ex, remains nameless, an anonymous “he”. I doubt this is a mistake on Gray’s part. It serves a multitude of purposes. She possibly wants to keep his identity as generic as possible to emit the idea that “he” could be anyone, “he” represents the patriarchy, the ever-dominant gender, the oppressor of Women. She most certainly is aiming at men in general - but I chose to read it as aimed at any abuser in any relationship - gender neutral full stop. I will be able to speak with the author via zoom soon, and will keep you updated on her point of view in a future article.
This play is unique in its complex web of serious themes such as abuse, revenge, manipulation, dependency, and obsession. They are brought to life by the only two characters and their conversations. We, the audience, only get to know about what is going on outside of their holed-up apartment in their self-imposed confinement, through their commentary.
About confinement, I’d like to make the connection with our own experience with it, in the harshest times of 2020. Even though this was not a disgruntled choice we made to spy on an asshole ex, I wonder if some of us unintentionally became “voyeurs”, to fend off the boredom and the angst experienced with confinement.
Have we noticed our neighbours’ habits perhaps? The lady who walks her dog in her mobility scooter, that neighbour who works in his garden much more diligently than you do. Did you know about these habits before you experienced them?
Anyways, to go back to the play, what is it that the man has done to scorn them so? Where does justice end and revenge start? Are the girls spying on him to save others, like they claim, or do they each have their own personal motives? Is their constant surveillance a righteous act or an excuse to indulge in their perverse obsession over him?
Written by Julia Mesrobian
Peep is brought to you by The Drama Merchant and Reverie Theatre Company. Starring
Candice Jean and Sophie Lawson at Motet Creative Studios from 13 - 22 August, 2021.
Tickets are on sale now from $35.00p.p. with an early bird special of $30p.p. until the end of June.
Use the word EARLYBIRD when booking tickets by clicking the button or link below
If you are interested in reading about their process through the production, I will be interviewing Nathan, Candice, and Sophie, as well as Jodi Gray in a later article. Stay tuned, reader, there is more to come.
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