Callback: Behind Frenemy Lines is a new show on at The Basement this week, written and performed by Lucy Suttor and Frith Horan. It deals with a process all too familiar to an actor: the audition process. Except that there’s a twist: the two actors in direct competition for the role happen to be flatmates. Renee Liang interviews real-life actors (and flatmates) Lucy and Frith. 

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Why do you make theatre?

For us, making theatre comes out of a need to say something or do something. In this particular case, we initially decided to make this show because we hadn't had the chance to perform on stage in a while. And, with what started out as a fun idea, during the scripting process we developed a strong purpose for this show, which in a broad sense is to unify people within our own arts community.

We also believe it's really important to be able to bring lightness and humor to situations that can often be stressful in this industry, in this case, auditioning. We take ourselves far too seriously, far too often - time for some silliness.

How did you come up with the idea?

We live in a flat full of actors, and it's fantastic because we are such good friends! But, we can see how awful it could be in a situation where we weren't so close.

We already knew we wanted to do a show together, so it made sense to draw from something we knew.

How did you write Callback? Was it devised, or scripted?

It was scripted by the two of us first. We took turns in adding to the script individually and then we'd come together and read over what we had and make revisions etc. After about 2 months of that, we had a pretty clear skeleton of the show and Lewis (our director), went through it and fleshed it out. Which was really helpful for us to get a different perspective, especially as the characters are based on versions of ourselves.

How close to real life is it?

There are elements of the show that are very close in terms of situations and conversations. These characters were formed from aspects of our own personalities that we've stretched to the extreme. But also, we've added a lot of other fun stuff that makes it exciting for us to play.

Are you guys real life frenemies? Do you meet in audition rooms?

No! Luckily enough we are very different types and very rarely get put forward for the same auditions. But we like to think that, if it did happen, we'd handle it a lot better than our characters.

Is there a role you wouldn't do - for money?

Frith: I think I wouldn't play a character that was pointless, like a pretty girl on the arm of a guy who has no dialogue. As long as the character is there for a reason and seems like a challenge or a lot of fun to play, I'm in.

Lucy: Personally, I'm a huge believer of never judging a character. If I feel like a character has a strong and relevant purpose in the story, then I would have no problem exploring that - no matter what their actions/intentions may be.

Tell me about some of the other work you've done.

We went through drama school together, so in other words - heaps!

Since graduating, we've both been involved in devised theatre work and short films.

Frith: I co-wrote a really fun show at the beginning of the year called The Best Possible Album Party That Anybody Has Ever Been To which was a Latin pop musical where I played sassy diva, Donna-Rose. That was also at the Basement.

Lucy: I re-worked and extended a solo piece that I had created in my last year of Drama School, and performed it at the Basement with 3 other works. Meg was essentially a clown piece, about a small town supermarket worker with a fantastical imagination.

What are you working on next?

Who knows! Maybe a sequel…..