After All This, by award winning ensemble Elbow Room (director Marcel Dorney, Angus Grant and Emily Tomlins), is an uncomfortable-in-a-good-way look at contemporary views of the afterlife. The performance is put to us on three stages, which weave their way upwards through the beautiful space that is the Dear Patti Smith building leading to a kind of “heaven”. The first stage is set at the bottom of a staircase, where we stand and watch siblings Emily (Emily Tomlins) and Angus (Angus Grant) discuss the existence of God and the afterlife. The skit is mostly funny, but becomes moving when they discuss their dead father and the possibility that he has not gone to heaven. Tomlins and Grant pull off children well, young but not annoying.
Moving up the stairs to the landing, we reach the second stage, where we must crane our heads awkwardly to see what is going on the staircase. Dr. George Price (Tom Dent) and Dr. William Hamilton (Tim Wotherspoon) observe the audience, and we are made to feel as though we are little more than rats in an experiment. In this way, and with the craning of our necks upwards, the discomfort of the show continues. The performances on this stage are exceptional.
Again we move upwards, and are greeted by friendly fanatics dressed in matching tracksuits in a room lined with hospital, or perhaps army, style bunk beds. This is the Heaven’s Gate community. The scene is performed eerily and Anna Samson, as one of the Heaven’s Gate members, is particularly creepy. Finally, they lay themselves down and drink Up and Go, the poison that frees them from their “meat”, the “vehicles” that are their bodies.
A chorus is started up, and we are lead to our final destination, heaven. This is a rooftop over-looking Melbourne, an apt setting.
After All This gets us on side with humour, but it is not necessarily an easy show to watch. It asks some deep and profound questions, and forces us to examine them, rather than simply walking away from them. Excellent use of space as metaphor really stands out. Highly recommended, but you’ll be lucky to get tickets!
