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Beyond The Neck | Argy Bargy Productions |
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Written by Richard Bladel
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Sunday, 23 September 2007 |
 This play reminds us that Port
Arthur, a convict penal settlement in southern Tasmania, began as a brutal
machine for the punishment and systematic destruction of the psyches of
inmates. It is the epicentre of the traumatic birth of white colonial Tasmania.
On the 28th of April 1996, a gunman murdered thirty five and injured a further
twenty people at what is now known as the Port Arthur historic site. That
incident left another profound legacy of shock, trauma and grief for that
community that will take a very long time to heal.
Playwright Tom Holloway undertook
the delicate business of asking people from this place to share their stories
about the events of that day. Some obliged him, and the resulting interviews
have informed the writing of a play that displays skill, creative bravery and a
laudable willingness to venture into risky territory.
Beyond the Neck is set ten years
on from that terrible day, it tells the stories of four characters, all of whom
are touched by the place and the events in very different ways. None of them
have names. Their stories skilfully interwoven, they speak directly to the
audience, to imagined characters onstage, they support, interrupt, talk over
and stop each other from speaking. There is the old man Port Arthur Tour Guide,
(Ron Haddrick), for whom the events of that day still echo in half imagined
gunshots; the Woman, (Sara Cooper) a mother stuck on a blue rinse tour bus
whose family were killed in a car accident; a Young Boy (Jon auf der Heide)
whose workaholic parents neglect him; and there is the Teenage Girl, (Jemma
Gates) whose father was a victim of the gunman.
Holloway has done much more than
written what is pretty close to a terrific thought provoking piece of theatre.
He seems to have successfully negotiated the dangers of voyeurism; he handles
the burden of authenticity, the need for sensitivity and does avoid
sensationalising. This play is as much about a set of relationships to the
people of Port Arthur and their healing process, and awareness of this fact is
emphasised in Jamie Clennett’s beautiful designed collection of artefacts, most
of which were offered by the audience. Each artefact is symbolic of a story
that belongs to the audience and perhaps the interview subjects as much as the
creative team.
The play aims to explore trauma,
the isolation that grief can bring as well as the need for a sense of community
to help in times of trouble. It manages to present something of the psychopathology
of both victim and perpetrator; through the stories of the Teenage Girl, who is
struggling to come to terms with the murder of her father and the experience of
watching her mother replace him with his best friend; through the Tour Guide
who was a witness, and through the Young Boy, whose intense loneliness leads
him into a possibly imaginary friendship with Michael, who encourages him into
brutal destructiveness.
However, I’m not convinced that
the play is successful on all fronts. There is an expository section in the
first half, where the tension chiefly resides in waiting for what might be all
hell breaking loose. It takes too long to do so. Also, the style and some
structural elements of this play get in the way of the audiences understanding
of the stories presented. The direct address style of storytelling embodies a
sense of community in its very form, as the four storytellers emphasise the
supportive and sometimes contradictory process of group retelling. This does
lead to confusion, however, as past, present and imaginary characters all
sometimes merge, leaving us at a loss as to how to connect to the emotional
journeys of the four. I’m sure that this blending of past and present is being
deliberately explored as an effect of the grieving process, but it isn’t always
helpful. I don’t get a strong sense of community or a deeper exploration of
grieving from the content either, and I think this work is at its most potent
exploring the stories of the Tour Guide and the Teenage Girl, both of whom were
more directly affected by the massacre. I’m not sure that the Young Boy’s story
takes us deeply enough into his world to understand the psychotic nature of
mass murderer, and the Woman’s story really did confuse me.
Director Iain Sinclair has
assembled a cast with different levels of experience, and he has shepherded
them successfully through what is a challenging form for an actor. There are
some big emotional moments, particularly for the Sara Cooper’s Woman and Ron
Haddrick’s Tour Guide, mostly addressing people who don’t literally exist on
stage, and these moments really do work. The form relies on snappy pacing and
sense of timing, and this is close to flawless. Jemma Gates presents us with a
beautiful portrayal of someone whose sense of misunderstood betrayal leads her
to rebellion and Jon auf der Heide’s Young Boy manages to both irritate and
provoke sympathy.
Whatever its flaws, this remains
an accomplished piece of theatre that will get you talking, feeling and
thinking about some difficult issues.
Argy Bargy Productions presents
Beyond the Neck
Venue: Earl Arts Centre
Date: 18 - 21 September @ 8.00pm
Tickets: Adults: $28, Concession: $18
Bookings: Princess Theatre Box Office 63233666 or at www.theatrenorth.com.au
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