Three strangers cross paths in 'Swallow' by Stef Smith at Metro Arts.
Each of these three strangers is at tipping point, with Rebecca breaking down, Sam exploring a new identity and Anna remaining in her apartment for the past two years. Elise Greig, who plays Anna, answers some questions about the show.
What is the inspiration behind the performance?
The play 'Swallow' by Stef Smith is an examination of contemporary society and how we isolate ourselves from each other. It’s about human vulnerabilities and the importance of human connection in order for us to be healed. The story looks at three strangers whose lives intercept accidentally. Sam, who is in the midst of transitioning, Rebecca, whose marriage has ended and her response is self-medicating with alcohol, and Anna, who is agoraphobic who hasn’t left her home in two years. The play is this wonderful journey where these three characters who would normally never cross paths, intercept and through that they transform and heal each other.
What do you want the audience to take away from the performance?
The writing is very dense, poetic, narrative-driven, funny and very contemporary. What has been done with this production is very intentional theatrical devices for the work to sit in, in the way that it is staged physically and also in the way the three actors communicate through the fourth wall at times. It has this larger allegorical and storytelling quality, which allows audiences to be very moved by the production and inside the work, but also gives them a change to step back a think about the broader themes and how we perhaps judge ourselves harshly, and the way in which through small acts of kindness we can touch another’s life and help them come to a more peaceful place. It reflects on contemporary society, which we all know is a complex place to be living. It is important for the audience to take away the idea of “it’s okay” and the refrain throughout the play “barely alive, but we are alive”. The play has a regenerative, positive ending, and it’s also quite funny! Stef Smith has this self-deprecating sense of humour, which is typically how Australians behave, so it’s very self-assuring.
Why is this work important now?
People more and more are living in bubbles, and this play, people's bubbles intercept. And that is extremely important. Plays that encourage human beings to connect in this crazy digital age, full of madness, are really crucial. In this technological age, we have this self-perception that everybody is more connected than they ever with social media, but in many ways we have become more isolated than ever. The play is relevant now because it is a carry and call to human connection.
What has the process been like?
It’s been great and really wonderful to work with such passionate artists. We’ve all worked together at one point or another which has put a bit of an ease to it with developing this work together and feeding in the amazing sound design and bringing this all to life. We had a great piece of writing to start with, which has been very theatrically stimulating, in terms of characterisation and the scope directorially with looking at a language in which the play sits in. It straddles realism but it’s quite expressionistic in many ways, both from a design and staging point of view. Since we have all worked together previously there’s a great short hand that we’ve developed in the rehearsal room around the aesthetic values that we are operating in. It’s really wonderful now we’re here at Metro Arts all bumped in and adding in the layers of a beautiful yet complex sound design with a lot of original composition by Tony Byrne. Those elements start to operate as this glue that ties all the show together. We’re in a really great place and couldn’t be happier.
