Left - Anita Hegh. Photo - Nicholas HigginsThe affect of the aftermath. The ongoing terror of tragedy. Forgetting versus forgiving. These are the concerns of Belvoir Theatre's current downstairs, Beyond the Neck, which examines in raw, gripping detail a family struggling with the consequences of the Port Arthur tragedy all those years ago.
'Let us begin'. So we open as the oldest man in the four-person cast speaks directly to the audience. Four cast members stand on stage, waiting, smiling, watching us, their watchers. Four lives intertwined through blood and shared history. The old man turns his back on us as the lights dim and the semi-circle of Stonehenge like rocks placed on stage are all that are left to be seen. We feel as though a reckoning is coming.
It hits us with the intense force of a musical crescendo - writer Tom Holloway has had his scripts compared to musical scores and we feel this as the language lilts along and lifts us before dashing the lives of the protagonists apart. Combined with tight direction and interesting, highly dramatic lighting choices, the play's most powerful scene happens when the young boy in the family thinks it funny to pull a shooting prank when his family revisit the site. The audience is pitched into darkness and we feel the pain not only of the victims as they are shot but of the subsequent grieving and loss felt by family members.
A tight ensemble performance; it was the script that dragged at times. After the above scene, in the last quarter of the play, judicious editing could have seen the powerful emotions felt by the audience sustained. Instead, the play at times felt laboured in length. At this point it was the simplistic and understated score that kept the audience connected - a stunning piece of quiet, collected, yet brutally honest piano which sang along with the story.
A powerful, heartfelt and ultimately heartbreaking script which interestingly enough offered a small ray of hope at the end of the performance - literally. Through the darkness and gloom a light grew upon the rocks centre stage as a previously unheard voice spoke of looking towards the future. There is an end at the tunnel of despair. We must keep our hold on our sanity until then.
Bambina Borracha & B Sharp present
Beyond the Neck
by Tom Holloway
Directed by Iain Sinclair
Venue: Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre, 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills
Dates: 8 – 31 May
Times: Tues 7pm, Wed-Sat 8.15pm, Sun 5.15pm
Tickets: $29/$23 (Preview $20, Cheap Tues Pay-what-you-can min $10)
Bookings: 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au
