Shaw Cameron - A Graduate Prepares

Following seasons of Ate Lovia and The Marriage Agency, kwento ends the year fight a striking new contemporary play - One Hour No Oil which follows the relationship that develops between a FIFO coal miner, and a male masseuse. Interrogating masculinity, mental health and the intersections of cultural responses to these issues, One Hour No Oil is a new work that has been closed to four years in the making.

Kwento, a new production company, helmed by Kenneth Moraleda and Jordan Shea, has produced some great talent recently. From working with established veterans: Lex Marinos OAM and Anna Lee, to providing a platform for new, emerging talent, fresh out of drama school. One of those talents and cast of One Hour No Oil, Shaw Cameron, sat down with Stage Whispers for a quick chat between rehearsals.

Stage Whispers: You’ve recently graduated from NIDA, how have you been able to incorporate your training into the rehearsal process of One Hour No Oil?

Shaw Cameron: Having graduated from NIDA, everything about my training has set me ready for the rehearsal process in One Hour No Oil. My voice particularly is something that I developed dramatically at NIDA - the versatility and the utility I now have as tools for this show, is something that continuously surprises me.  But also the stamina and the nature of play that was encouraged at NIDA, whilst working toward my process, seems to really help solve problems and bring out interesting creative choices. That and a killer Aussie accent.

SW: How would you describe your character in One Hour No Oil?

SW: Masculinity is at this work’s core. What is your view on it, and how does it intersect with your artistic practice?

SC: Masculinity is something I’m really pondering at the moment, as, like Scott, I’m learning new things each day as to what this means for me and those around me. I see duality all around me and the traits of both masculinity and femininity in all, but with both great and toxic aspects at play. The reason I breathe still and reason I live my life through artistic practice is to highlight and explore these very ideas. The notion of responsibility, baring burdens for purpose, competitive/striving over comfort over self-gratification, providing for others instead of the self; I believe to be great masculine values. But in the old world these positive values have been muddled or linked with unnecessary violence, lack of empathy, shutting off emotion, self-destructive tendencies. My interest is in working in the grey of the human condition and finding where we go wrong, causation and how to fix not eradicate. We are all imperfect, but in seeking perfection my question at the moment is not where to look, but how to look. With regards to masculinity, I believe we don’t know how to look at it, I believe One Hour No Oil can help me on this journey.   

Q: The relationship between Bhing and Scott is one unseen before. Two men. Two distinctly different cultures. Why should this be explored now?

SC: Scott and Bhing are two characters of radically different cultures you’ve probably seen before, perhaps even in a play or perhaps seen interactions of two people such as these in the street (maybe whilst cringing at the cultural insensitivity). But you never thought you’d see what develops of these two people in One Hour No Oil. Their relationship - through a physical connection, even spiritual, in a pursuit of mutual understanding and healing is one I’ve never seen before. Never felt before. In this post covid world, where physical distance has never been so prominent, this unique clash of cultures and worlds,  can highlight to us that perhaps we have forgotten the necessity of skin on skin connection. Of the unmistakable connection we feel when two bodies just connect. Enough, dare we say, to push beyond their differences to a place where we just see the person beside you, warts and all. 

One Hour No Oil plays at the Kings Cross Theatre from Oct 26, tickets here:

http://www.kingsxtheatre.com/one-hour