THEATRE: BEFORE THE EMBRACE

“Life is in the leaving out,” announces Stuart (Shaun Martindale), one of the six central characters in acclaimed writer/director Paul Gilchrist’s latest production for subtlenuance. Indeed, as the title suggests, Before the Embrace is all about gaps in life – gaps between individuals, between the more fortunate and the less fortunate, as we are repeatedly reminded by the play’s social conscience, Clare (Jo Richards), but also gaps that could be opened, in the stories we tell ourselves. We follow the story of hot young Sydney artist, Stuart, as he films his friends’ lives. Despite the marketing tagline, Before the Embrace is less a play about filmmaking than it is about the varied devices we employ to try and make sense of the world, when that illusion of the perfect life finally bursts. “Whether the characters employ these devices happily is the question of the play,” says Gilchrist, highlighting the hypocrisy and inadequacy of the ways in which we try and impose structure on the world. Before the Embrace is a thoroughly enjoyable night of mischievous satire, however let the directionless in the audience be warned, this is a production that really makes you sit up and examine what you’re doing with your life.

Until Oct 24, Newtown Theatre, Cnr King & Bray St, Newtown, $12-25, 85073034 or www.newtowntheatre.com.au

BY ALEX BRITTON