Shattered
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Shattered

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With the audience positioned as though confined to a commercial aircraft, the play is set in the aftermath of a plane crash in the Australian bush. There are no survivors. It emerges that the tragedy was no accident, but rather an act perpetrated by Australia’s first homegrown terrorist.

The text is very dense and lyrical. It bursts with subtle and elegant visual metaphor, but is at times difficult to follow. Lewis’ delivery was admirable and the physicality he displays is very impressive.

The lights, sounds and use of contemporary music are all very emotive but the message they deliver is convoluted and often unclear. To some extent I think the text is made inaccessible by everything going on around it.

The play raises some interesting questions about the way we deal with individual loss as well as our societal response to mass tragedy. It asks what motivates such destruction and why some deaths go unnoticed, while others overwhelm the collective consciousness.

All in all it is an interesting and challenging production, but probably not one for the uninitiated theatre goer.