It’s set far back in the space when you enter to take your seat, but Rodney Pople’s 2012 painting, Port Arthur, hanging free at the rear of the set is striking nonetheless. Softly lit throughout the play, the dark areas of the canvas are ever present behind the actors.
Yet along with the shadows of 28 April 1996 (and obviously its history as a penal colony), we are also reminded of the idyllic beauty of Port Arthur.
By the end of Beyond the Neck you have a sense of violence and beauty embedded in the land, an idea Duncan Sarkies drew from when he wrote and directed Out of the Blue, the 2006 film about the events of the massacre in Aromoana, New Zealand in 1990.
While Sarkies’ story was about the tragedy as it unfolded, Tom Holloway’s script for Beyond the Neck is about people returning to those events ten years later.
A young boy (Freddy Collyer), a teenage girl (Cassidy Dunn), and a young mother (Emmaline Carroll Southwell) arrive at Port Arthur to an uncertain afternoon.
We’ve already met the fourth character, an older man who works as a tour guide (Francis Greenslade), earlier, rattling off the pun-ladened monologue he uses every-time to greet the public.
There’s a sweetness to Francis’ early vocal play, because the character enjoys delivering these fun lines to his audience, but really lovely touch is seeing how the burden of the past weighs on his body and affects his physicality – as we do eventually with the others.
Freddy gave a tender and convincing performance as the boy. All the mannerisms and t-shirt tugging were great, with two later moments particularly shocking, but the Boy’s creeping realisation that his best friend might not have his best interests at heart was beautifully performed.
Emmaline was splendid in the role of the young mother. Her character is quite proficient in avoiding things – whether they be the chairs on set, or devastating emotional truths – but either those demands and the remaining lines in-between were given fantastic life by Emmaline.
Cassidy Dunn magnificently depicts her character’s grief – sullen moods, vicious words thrown at her mother, being scared after the death of her father and scared again by the tour guide. It’s a ragged thing indeed and incredibly moving as teenage girl describes her loss.
Cassidy’s final monologue, which takes a few lines to describe the nature and beauty of Port Arthur, was exquisitely performed. Francis Greenslade was terrific as the old man – from large, explosive moments, to the character’s emotional recollection of the gunman’s actions and the aftermath, to some of the final moments of the play itself.
Beyond the Neck is a wonderful show that deserves a sell-out season.
Beyond The Neck
Theatre Works, 14 Acland Street, St Kilda
Performance: Saturday 21 March 2026
Season continues to 4 April 2026
Information and Bookings: www.theatreworks.org.au
Following the Theatre Works season, Beyond The Neck will tour to the West Gippsland Performing Arts Centre, Warragul (19 April), The Round, Nunawading (24 & 25 April) and the Clocktower Centre, Moonee Ponds (1 & 2 May).
Images: Emmaline Carroll Southwell, Freddy Collyer, Cassidy Dunn and Francis Greenslade in Beyond The Neck – photo by Steven Mitchell Wright | Emmaline Carroll Southwell and Freddy Collyer in Beyond The Neck – photo by Steven Mitchell Wright | Francis Greenslade in Beyond The Neck – photo by Steven Mitchell Wright
Review: June Collins