ENDINGS by Tamara Salwick, presented by Sydney Festival and Performance Space, is an electro-acoustic performance piece that is a meditation on cycles and endings that occur in peoples lives.

Saulwick was first struck by the idea when her three year old son watched her throw a dead fly outside with all of the questions from him following the fly’s demise. This caused Saulwick to contemplate the issues that people don’t really speak of surrounding death. Do we go on, in an afterlife, or is death really the end? Saulwick felt that the questions her son raised were motivated by a desire by humans to stay connected to one another, even after death.

She recorded several conversations with various people on the subject, and these recordings are integral to the show. Memories and reflections from varied people and their musings on death of loved ones were very stirring, and Saulwick used portable turntables to play the tapes, which she transferred on to vinyl.

The performance was very moving and while the combined audio was amazing, the visual effects were equally stunning. The stage was set with several hanging spotlights, which were in motion swinging throughout, to great effect. Highlights: the acoustic music was beautiful, and Paddy Mann’s vocals were stirring.

An excellent production which attempts to help de-mystify death and come to an understanding of endings, if you can get tickets this is well worth a look.

ENDINGS played Carriageworks between the 8th and the 11th January.

Featuring: Tamara Saulwick and Paddy Mann.

Creative Team: Peter Knight, Ben Cobham, Margaret Trail, Nick Roux, Harriet Oxley, and Emily O’Brien.

Produced by Insite Arts and Freya Waterson.

Joy Minter’s review was first published on her website http://www.thebuzzfromsydney.com.