Once upon a time, Charlotte Otton, a Sydneysider who blew into Boorloo/Perth as a WAAPA student, set such a powerful theatre thirst trap that she had to stay in town for a few years so that WA’s major companies and a few select indie theatre greats could get a taste of her immense talents and work with her. In just a few short but formative and fruitful years, she did and made all types of theatre, collaborating with the best, the brightest, and the edgiest that little ol’ Perth could offer. Then she left. Back over East.
We’re not [too] sore about it though, and we can still claim her as one of ours as long as she keeps bringing gems like her latest solo show, I Watched Someone Die on TikTok, to our fancy Fringe festival. I missed out on her previous solo show, Feminah (no idea how I made that serious error in scheduling), so I had plenty to catch up on with Otton’s current work, which is presented by Lazy Yarns and State of Play at the State Theatre Centre of WA for FRINGE WORLD until 25 Jan.
Otton takes us down a familiar rabbit hole (for those of us with a social media addiction), walking us steadily but carefully into the deep end of the internet cesspool. On the way, she pauses to tell us funny stories, sing us nutty songs, and show us pics of her cherubic tween face at the onset of her curiosity about what the “scawy web” could show and tell her. She is both passive observer and active participant in a twisty funhouse ride through the best and worst of humanity, as seen through Screen. She is so us, with her Google searches to find her rash on Reddit.
I was hoping that Otton’s show would bring about a final breaking point in my screen addiction, a theatrical intervention that would send me packing for some ranch in Utah to get straight. It wasn’t. Otton’s thesis seems to be that TikTok, and social media more broadly, are here to stay, so we should probably do our best to maintain some perspective about it all, through comedy, or posting sexy stupid videos, or making solo theatre about it. It is with some irony that her show comes to us just after the absurd American theatre that was the 48-hour TikTok “ban” and “restoration” by the Orange One, and the far more troubling policy changes within the Zuckerverse. As Otton quipped in an aside during the performance, “This show is so timely.”
Timely, relevant, revelatory, sharp, hilarious, devious, and oddly reassuring are just a few words to describe I Watched Someone Die on TikTok. I never felt unsafe with Otton as our guide, even in the deepest, darkest moments of her deep dive into doom scrolling. There are tonal swings from lyrical to dirty to awful to silly, but I never got whiplash; to be honest, I and the rest of the adoring audience mostly just had good solid belly laughs right the way through. Otton’s comic timing is second to none, and her commitment to the bit is absolute.
I urge everyone who has spent a few thousand hours on social media since the new year to immediately get into the show, which only plays 2 more nights. Everyone else with a more measured relationship with Screen and a love for edgy, vital independent theatre should also get themselves a ticket without delay – before Charlotte leaves Boorloo for over there once more.
CICELY BINFORD
I Watched Someone Die on TikTok runs from 21 – 25 Jan 2025 at the State Theatre Centre of WA for State of Play and FRINGE WORLD. For tickets and more information, visit here.
Images by Sophie Minissale
