Beyond the Neck
[1] The monumental physical and emotional toll of witnessing the massacre is made clear to the audience through his monologue,[2] as he describes in significant depth particular details about the event, such as the woman covered in blood who hugged him.
The characters "1" (boy), "2" (teenage girl), "3" (young mother and wife), and "4" (old man) are then introduced, through direct address and as the musical quartet piece that Holloway intended.
[2] The next part of the play, "Setting Off", brings the characters to the ten year anniversary of the Port Arthur Massacre, revealing that the tragedies of the event continue to haunt them to the present day.
[5] This section of the play details the character's separate journeys as they begin to travel to the Broad Arrow Café in Port Arthur, where the massacre took place.
[1] Although they do not travel together, their stories intertwine as they interrupt and talk over the top of each other, contributing to Holloway's intention of creating a musical quartet and chorus, as he outlines in the "Important Note to Actors and Director".
[3] In Tom Holloway's "Foreword" to Beyond the Neck, he recounts where he was and what he was doing at the time of the Port Arthur Massacre, and the long-lasting effect on him is evident, "That first day will stay with me forever.
For me though it brought up things that I needed to share..."[1] What made it even more difficult for Australia to cope and move on from the event was the media blackout on survivor's statements and testimonies during the trial of Martin Bryant.
[3] Holloway noted the positive impact and healing properties that these interviews fostered, quoted by the ABC as saying, "For many people the moment when they were able to share the story was a major part of being able to come to terms with it.
"[1] An early version of Holloway's Beyond the Neck was chosen by La Mama Café in the 2004 Melbourne International Arts Festival for further development, leading to its eventual premiere on 12 September 2007.
[9] On 15 March 2012, the play was revived for a production in Melbourne by Red Stitch, a series of shows lasting until 14 April 2012[10] with Australian theatre veteran Roger Oakley performing as Character 4.
[11] In 2007, "Beyond the Neck” was one of only ten plays selected for stage reading by the Royal Court Theatre's International Young Playwright's Festival in London, out of over four hundred submissions.
[12] The play has been positively critically received, with The Daily Telegraph reporting it to be "a powerful meditation on a national tragedy so brutal that many people are still coming to terms with it.
"[13] For The Daily Telegraph, the play's musicality and chorus-like performance was both its triumph and its downfall, "Although the actors are still in the complicated process of finding the rhythm of this work and the script is occasionally uneven in tone, there are some genuinely moving moments".
[15] The Sydney Morning Herald was equally favourable toward the Red Stitch production, claiming that, "Tom Holloway's Beyond the Neck composes the long shadow of the Port Arthur massacre into a beautifully graduated piece of chamber theatre", and that the play is "a haunting drama, and this nuanced ensemble production from Red Stitch allows its soft, broken chords to sing".
