Beyond the Neck
Beyond the Neck
starring Francis Greenslade
A TheatreWorks Production
Friday, 1 May at 7.30pm* *VIP pre-show lounge event and post-show Q&A for Director’s Circle Members
Saturday, 2 May at 7.30pm** **Auslan interpreted performance
Are you a Centre Stage or Director's Circle Member?
Log in here first.
Not a Member yet?
Become a Member today.
| Prices | |
|---|---|
| Full Price | $69 |
| Centre Stage Member Price | $62.10 |
| Director’s Circle Member Price | $58.65 |
| Concession | $65 |
| Under 30 | $59 |
| Group (15 or more) | $61 |
| MobTix | $30 |
Please note all bookings by Non-Members will incur a $4 fee per transaction. This transaction fee is payable whether booking tickets online, over the phone or in-person.
About the show
A mother. A teenager. A tour guide. A man who can’t outrun the past. Their lives don’t intersect – until they do, in the aftershock of one day Australia won’t forget.
Tom Holloway’s Beyond the Neck is a profoundly compassionate portrait of a community living with loss. Four individual stories braid together, observing, echoing and gently urging the characters forward. Humour and care thread through the show, allowing light to enter even as it looks unflinchingly at trauma.
Directed by Suzanne Chaundy, this new Theatre Works production honours the delicacy and daring of Holloway’s writing; clear, unsentimental and luminously humane.
This production sensitively addresses the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre on 28 April 1996 (see Producer/Presenter statement below). The performance will mark the 30 year anniversary of this tragedy.
“Theatre Works is proving they are the match of any mainstage company.”– Australian Arts Review
About Theatreworks
Melbourne’s home for independent theatre – commissioning, coproducing and presenting bold new Australian work. Independent by nature. Fierce by choice. Stronger with you.
Dianne Toulson (Producer/Presenter) Statement
Beyond the Neck was originally programmed in recognition of the 30-year anniversary of Port Arthur. I chose this work because it is not about the act of violence itself, but about what follows. It is a play about grief, survival, and the long, uneven process of recovery that communities live with over time.
When the work was selected, there was a sense, perhaps even a quiet hope, that Port Arthur marked a turning point in Australia’s history. A moment that reshaped our relationship to safety, responsibility, and collective care.
The more recent tragedy at Bondi has understandably shaken the country and reminded us that trauma does not remain neatly in the past. While the events are not the same, they echo a shared experience of shock and grief, and reinforce why stories that focus on aftermath rather than spectacle remain important.
Beyond the Neck does not depict violence and does not comment on specific contemporary events. Instead, it creates space to reflect on what communities carry long after the headlines fade. We present the work with care, sensitivity, and respect for audiences, believing theatre can offer a place to sit together with complexity rather than answers.
Creative team
Playwright: Tom Holloway
Director: Suzanne Chaundy
Cast: Frances Greenslade, Emmaline Carroll Southwell, Cassidy Dunn, Freddy Collyer
Creatives: Lighting - Richard Vabre, Set & Costume - Emma Ashton, Sound Composition - Phil McCleod, Sound Designer - Jack Burmeister
Show duration
75 minutes, with no interval
Content warning
This production sensitively addresses the aftermath of a real-life tragedy and themes of grief and recovery.
The safety of everyone is important to us. Please ensure that you are familiar with the current Victorian guidelines for attending indoor events. You can view our updated Conditions of Purchase and Conditions of Entry. Closer to each production, all ticket holders will be sent up to date information on the current guidelines.