Regular live theatre is something I’ve missed living in a small town for the past 26 years. Not so much the big block buster shows, more the smaller, intimate art house type experiences. Growing up in Melbourne my life included many evenings at La Mamma in Carlton for periods of the 80’s & 90’s. Helping with sets, painting promo signage, enjoying shows, bumping in and out.
There have been a few theatre groups come and go up in Hepburn too in my time here. Performances are sometimes part of the Swiss Italian Festa and Words in Winter. In 2024, I was even part of one myself called Cyber Naughts. It was a collaboration with resident Radius artist, writer, producer, and performer Sandra Fiona Long.
Sandra graduated from the VCA in the late 90s as an ‘Animateur’, with a Theatre Making degree and later, with a Masters in Writing for performance. It is the unique combination of these understandings that helps Sandra build a bridge between her writing and direction. It is an incredibly powerful skill, being able to weave complex threads that manifest poignant commentary on a society.
I attended Sandra’s latest work at La Mama last week, for me it felt like going home for a family meal. To enter the womb of this tiny world gave me tingles, it contains a rich tapestry of Melbourne’s cultural history and identity.
We are in darkness, but not for long, within seconds a woman appears centre stage, ablaze with light and surrounded by projections. She’s writhing on the floor, clutching a web camera in each hand. She speaks at pace, her language is both modern and ancient. For the tale she tells is both of our times and one that permeates all human history. She thrusts her arms into the air, oscillating her cameras and lines from left to right. Her image appears projected on opposing walls like giant billboards. Flashing from left to right, line by line. Like watching tennis, our heads turn back and forth in quick succession trying to keep pace.
This is Cassandra, she is in a tangled world of online entrapment. A slave to the camera. We learn she has been groomed by Atrius and become one of his many ‘Only Fans’ on the Apollo platform. But she has somehow broken free to warn others of this Manosphere. As his digital currency ‘Afterlife’ coins rain down the walls and chants of ‘Pussy’ fill the air, I’m immediately struck by the numerous connections to current world events before me. While the horrors of our times are laid bare, we can still fail to see them. With billionaires bending truths at their will, men continue to make millions by enslaving others, the means may have changed, but the methods remain exactly the same.
We become engulfed in the stage, with pulsating images, digital coins and large text scrolling across all 3 walls. The sound of banging and voices comes raining down from above. I feel like I’ve been trapped, inside a screen, submerged in a toxic underworld of despair. The narratives are intense and hard hitting, a powerful reminder of our times. Will Casandra break free? Will she warn others? Are the inherent themes at play obvious? The historical patterns before us are all laid bare. I am hoping Cassandra Complex makes it up to Hepburn for you all to see.
Be it Ancient Greece or ‘Modern’ Western Democracy, the story remains. With digital platforms engulfing our lives in so many ways. I came away feeling Casandras entrapment in my guts, her prophecies and words echoing around me. It’s a visceral tale so powerful and raw right now. How we can so easily become enslaved by devices and algorithms that place machine systems and profits before human qualities, while ignoring the warning signs all around us? Sandra worked with some emergent themes resonant in our 2024 Cyber Naughts show and propelled them to new heights, as is the practice and power of a professional writer, director and ‘Animateur’.
The performance was titled ‘The Cassandra Complex’ and was part of an exploration program to test new works at La Mamma. Credit also for the sound design by Gemma Horbury, visuals by Deden Bulqini, key acting by Luella Fitz and everyone else involved.
Sandra is running a workshop for the 2026 Words In Winter program here at Radius. If you are interested in exploring text and voice it’s a perfect opportunity to experience some of the process’s she uses. Follow the links on Radius and Words in Winter sites for more info.
Also, this week we are excited to be opening a Photography Studies College Masters Exhibition at Radius by local creative Arabella Gates. ‘Search Party: Collective Traces’ is a photographic exhibition exploring memory and the stories we share. Using omission and ellipsis as narrative strategies and archival fragments, the work invites viewers to find meaning in what is revealed, remembered, and left unsaid. Join us for a glass of bubbles to celebrate this Saturday 18th of July 2-4pm.
