Beyond The Neck review | Theatre Works

In Beyond the Neck, Tom Holloway’s raw and unflinching script brings four strangers together in the shadow of tragedy, each carrying their own pain. As their paths cross, the play quietly unravels how trauma lingers, how memory presses in, and how people navigate the fragile spaces between loss and connection. Set in the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre, one of Australia’s darkest tragedies, the play traces how the echoes of violence ripple through ordinary lives, shaping the way people remember, mourn, and try to move forward.

The characters are all coping with grief in different, haunting ways. The Boy embodies disturbing tendencies; The Teenage Girl channels fear into obsession and speculation; The Young Mother and Wife carries memories she can’t let go; and The Old Man, a survivor of the massacre, bears the lingering impact of what he witnessed, giving the audience an intimate view of loss.

Francis Greenslade anchors the cast with a remarkable balance of everyday normality and deep, simmering wounds, making The Old Man lived-in and real. Emmaline Carroll Southwell reprises the role she first played in 2012, bringing continuity and a strong resonance to the material as The Young Mother and Wife. Cassidy Dunn and Freddy Collyer complete the ensemble, each adding to the emotional texture of the play and helping to draw this world with authenticity.

Suzanne Chaundy, who also directed the 2012 Red Stitch production, interprets Holloway’s tense, understated text with precise pacing that builds quiet, escalating suspense. The characters start off polite and measured in their interactions. They force each to tell their story, no deviations, no fantasies. The truth must be told, but as grief and tension intensify, they speak over each other, move more frantically, and at times drop to the floor - physicalising emotions that can no longer be contained. Chaundy’s direction keeps the shifts organic, rendering the mounting unease both palpable and unsettling. 

Emma Ashton's set remains spare, with an empty stage shaped into a trapezoid that narrows toward the back. Inside it, four chairs and four actors carry the whole piece, with nothing to distract and nowhere to escape. An enlarged reproduction of Rodney Pople's painting 'Port Arthur' hangs above. Included is an image of Martin Bryant holding a gun, bringing a further chill to these people's stories. The shape gently pulls everything inward, so the space becomes tighter as the action moves back, creating a subtle sense of pressure without overdoing it. It’s minimal, but effective, letting the performances and the weight of the story do the heavy lifting.

Richard Vabre’s lighting design begins with the stage brightly lit and open, allowing the characters room to exist within the space. As the play unfolds and their journeys deepen, that light gradually fades, pulling the edges into shadow. By the end, these people are isolated in tight, circular spotlights, the rest of the surrounding falling away around them, and us. It’s a simple but striking shift that mirrors the claustrophobic nature of the setting and the narrowing of their emotional worlds.

Beyond the Neck is a stark and confronting reminder that grief doesn’t fade neatly with time. Though the Port Arthur massacre happened decades ago, Holloway’s play hits hard today, showing how such violence allows suffering to permeate and how it forever shapes our lives. Living in a period where tragedies like the recent Bondi shooting still jolt us, the play’s exploration of mourning is urgent, raw, and impossible to ignore. 

SHOW DETAILS

Venue: Theatre Works, 14 Acland St, St Kilda
Season: until 4 April | Tues - Sat 7:30pm
Duration: 120 minutes
Tickets: $59 Full | $52 Conc
Bookings: Theatre Works

Image credit: Steven Mitchell Wright