Dramarama transports the viewer back to their own teenage experiences through a tender, engaging, yet highly complex movie, with the final scenes wrapped in the emotion of those final, bittersweet days of teenage life as adulthood began. Dramarama is now available to rent or buy.
Reflecting on my 17-year-old self, one thing is clear: my friends were my world, and our day trips to London, small, cosy house parties, and trips to the cinema were filled with laughter, debate, and joy. However, nothing is more certain than change as we grow older, and friendships are not free from these shifts over time.
For many of us, the most significant change comes as we pack our bags and head to college or University, the old world of our school days, bedroom dreams, and our fight for independence suddenly transformed. I remember the feeling of being torn in two as I longed to leave the home town that now felt like a prison while fearing I would lose the small circle of friends who were my comfort blanket. I remember telling myself that my friends would always be there and that we would always meet again. But, in truth, apart from a few meetings and days out, we all slowly drifted apart. The glue that had held us together (the town of our birth) was now no more than a distant memory as we built new lives and embraced an exciting future.
The friends I made at University stayed with me, and while we now live across the country and even the world, most of us keep in touch. But, the older I get, the more I find my mind drifting back to the friends I had as a teenager and the innocence, optimism and fun of pretending to be worldly and wise. In truth, we were all still hiding, discovering ourselves, our wants, desires and beliefs. Jonathan Wysocki’s Dramarama takes you back to those confusing, exciting and emotional days before University, with a beautiful exploration of endings and beginnings.
The year is 1994, and the place is California. As the summer is drawing to an end and Autumn nips at its heels, 17-year-old Gene (Nick Pugliese) stands wearing nothing but a pair of white boxer shorts in his bedroom. Gene’s thoughts are all in a jumble as he prepares for a final murder mystery slumber party with his high school friends and drama club peers.
On arrival, Gene finds the afternoon in full swing with the hostess Rose played by Anne Grace Barlow, dressed as Miss Faversham, the quiet Claire played by Megan Suri, dressed as Lewis Caroll’s Alice, Gene’s best friend Oscar played by Nico Greetham, dressed as Sherlock Holmes, and the sassy Ally played by Danielle Kay) dressed in a flowing red gown.
Gene had planned on being a pirate, but instead, he is wearing braces, a cravat and eyeliner. Rose scowls and questions why he has come as Dr Jekyll, with Gene responding that Dr Jekyll fits his current state of mind. Tonight, Gene plans to introduce his friends to his Mr Hyde as he comes out of the closet, and he is worried that they won’t take it well.
Dramarama quickly establishes its central characters through a series of friendships that feel believable and full of unspoken love. The complex relationship between Gene and Oscar sits at the heart of the narrative, where a simmering sexual tension is immediately apparent through high jinks and wrestling born in boyhood and now laced with hormones.
During the course of one transformative night, every young person in attendance attempts to ward off the adult world as it threatens to invade the party, with nobody willing or able to relinquish the inner child still firmly at play. Here, Wysocki’s film is at its most fascinating and engaging as each character clings tightly to the self-created world of safety and imagination that keeps them secure from bullying, judgment, and popularity contests. However, fears, doubts, and insecurities lie just below the surface of every conversation and interaction, as the cocoon of childhood begins to fracture.
Throughout Dramarama, each of Wysocki’s characters internally debates how much to reveal as new beginnings sit just over the horizon. Here, the humour, play-acting, and games are mere diversions from the discussions they long to have as they finally bid farewell to one chapter and welcome another. Dramarama transports the viewer back to their own teenage experiences through a tender, engaging, yet highly complex movie, with the final scenes wrapped in the emotion of those final, bittersweet days of teenage life as adulthood began.
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