Sydney Reviews

Left - the Cast of Before/After. Cover - Graham Rhodes, Sophie Ross, Richard Pyros and Annie Byron. Photos - Brett Boardman

51 scenes, 39 characters, in an anonymous hotel room, in doorways, on lunar modules. The random, quick change pace of Before/After keeps the viewer engaged, despite the deliberate atmosphere of emotional disengagement. The laughs are bleak and isolated, much like Schimmelpfennig’s characterisations and observations of modern life. Characters without names, quick couplings, the beginnings and ending of affairs, invasion by alien life forms - once the individual’s existential cry to a god, now a brave but lonely search for life beyond our planet. A man armed with a torch and some sheets tracks down an alien organism.

This mad rush forward is the best of contemporary theatrical expression, echoing rapid fire electronic video games but able to parody popular culture in a single scene. It evokes (Western European) global symbols, while focusing on the harrowing loss of intimacy in daily life. No Dolce Vita here, no warm life affirming, thigh slapping big bosomed laughter. When “The Woman over Seventy” character proclaims that a sense of humour is the most important thing in life, we are struck by its complete absence.

Cristabel Sved and her ensemble cast work hard in Before/After to maintain a swirling, dynamic piece of theatre that opens up the philosophical questions contained in the many abrupt short scenes that bang up against each other. This is achieved through use of hand held lighting, passing microphones from actor to actor and the well used stage feels thoroughly warmed up by the end of the show; the fact that the very attractive cast spend large amounts of time in their underwear does no disservice in maintaining interest and visual stimulation and this underpins and elevates the dialogue. It works extremely well, avoiding the usual pitfalls of earnest readings of German contemporary theatre which can be stilted and verbose. Sved keeps everything and everyone moving, adding a real depth to the sense of the unstoppable cosmic flow.

What is ultimately articulated is the idea that we are all the authors of our own existence; from micro to macro we are zoomed in and out. These characters on stage are no more or less special than the audience member in row 4. We watch their machinations in horror and quiet recognition that they are us and we are them, universally struggling for meaning. But there is nothing bombastic or arrogant about this sharing of insight, simply a beautifully vulnerable reveal of characters stumbling about in the 21st century trying to make the best of it, or feel the best for it, or understand the best of it; or like the hunter who wants to enter the organism, be the bravest of us. The sum of the parts is uplifting, astonishing in its breadth and re-affirms the place of theatre in a fast paced consumer dominated world. No-one actually buys anything in this production, a deliberate foil to consumer culture. A robust, uplifting piece of theatre that feeds the mind and strokes the soul. One can only hope this production tours widely and well.


Sydney Theatre Company presents
Before/After
by Roland Schimmelpfennig
translated by Dr Marlene J Norst

Director Cristabel Sved

Venue: Wharf 2, Sydney Theatre Company, Pier 4, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
Dates: 4 - 19 February 2011
Tickets: $25 (transaction fees may apply)
Bookings: (02) 9250 1777 | www.sydneytheatre.com.au