Exploring The Deep Dark Web In 'The Nether'

Rehearsals for the Australian premiere of The Nether are well and truly underway and one of the play's cast members, Alec Snow, enthuses, "We just keep kind of going deeper and deeper into it every week, which is good, because the writing allows it." It was, in fact, Jennifer Haley's script was that initially attracted Snow (probably best known for his stint as Matt Page on Home & Away) to The Nether: "It's one of those scripts that I got and read start to finish, and loved it… I obviously wanted to be a part of the project."

The Nether has already graced West End and Broadway stages and Snow reveals, "It's almost like a mix of Westworld, Black Mirror and Alice In Wonderland… all those three thrown together and just shaken up a bit." The play is set in "a dystopian future", Snow tells. "It's a time when virtual reality has just become a massive thing and everyone uses it to escape the real world and go online, but in a more immersive kind of way." After describing his character as "an avatar of sorts that is within the virtual reality", Snow explains, "Within the play, it kind of swaps back and forth between the real world and this other kind of virtual realm."

On not wanting to give too much away about The Nether's plot, Snow observes, "I think one of the real joys [of] coming to see this play will be the fact that you're going in blind, in a way… you can almost, yeah, piece it together yourself and go on that journey without having too many expectations about what it is or what should be.

"It really makes you think," Snow continues. "It's definitely one of those plays that I think, as an audience member, you'll be playing catch-up; it just moves very fast, but in a good way. Like, at the beginning, I think you're just like, 'Whoa! What's going on?' And then you slowly start to understand more and more of how it all works."

Although Snow hasn't really experimented with virtual reality on a personal level, he says he can appreciate the play's extreme relevance given that VR headsets are bringing the technology into the home. "There's a lotta laws being passed at the moment about internet regulations and security and privacy and all that kind of stuff," he shares. "When you have this virtual reality and then you have the real world that we're used to; I mean, it's this constant debate within the play of what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad?… Are the same kind of laws applied or do we have to completely make up new ones? You know, all those sorts of questions start coming up, I guess.

"And then you start wondering, 'If you're doing all these evil things, does that still mean anything? Do you take that back to the real world with you when you're finished at Westworld?" he laughs.

Justin Martin (The Crown, Netflix) is on board as director and Snow describes his style as "really chilled-out". "He really allows you the freedom to discover the stuff in the [rehearsal] space. And the space is one that's really safe and you are able to take those risks and fail and all that kind of stuff… He accommodates that and he works with you and doesn't push you to only take his perspective on it, you know? You feel more like a creative team working out the puzzle rather than, 'This is what I want you to do and find a way to do it,' which is really nice, I think, 'cause you don't always get that."

Snow then contemplates acting for stage versus acting for screen. "Home & Away's very fast-paced and you're going through a lot of material very quickly," he points out, "whereas with theatre… you're going over that same material over and over again… There's more time to go deeper into it, whereas [with] Home & Away it's like an episode a day so you're just smashing out scenes as fast as possible.

"If you stuff up, sometimes you don't have the time - on Home & Away - to go, 'Actually, can I try this differently?' or, 'Can I do that?' You know, if it seems alright and it reads ok then the director's usually like, 'Alright, moving on,' and you're left like, 'Ah, ok, that's that,' and we have to keep going. But what I've found enjoyable the last few weeks is just playing in the rehearsal room and going, 'Well, that didn't work but let's try it this way.'"

We noticed a Movement Coach listed among The Nether's creatives so wonder whether Snow has to learn a complex sequence akin to Tom Cruise suspended and weaving through a laser grid in Mission: Impossible to hack a computer. He laughs, "I wish!" and then jokes, "Well, I told Justin about that scene and he shot me down with that idea, but I would love for that to be my entrance onto the stage. Wouldn't it be good?! You'd probably just have to be set in position right from the beginning when it's open call; so the audience is coming in, you're just up in the rafters waiting."

But The Nether's Movement Coach is enlisted for a movement piece in the first half of the play, Snow tells. "It's been challenging, but I think we're slowly getting there with it and I guess what it's trying to achieve is what is almost like what a montage is trying to achieve in a film… So it's a way of showing a relationship evolving without actually having a scene to show that, if that makes sense."  

Snow is also the lead singer of Interim, who performed at BIGSOUND recently. "When I found out I got this play, we were in the process of booking our tour," he recalls. On juggling Interim and acting commitments, Snow admits, "Sometimes it's intense for a few weeks and you've got two things going on at once, like this week, but it's awesome to be able to go from the music side of things and then into the rehearsal room and play with both different mediums."

Given that Matt Page, Snow's character on Home & Away, married Evie MacGuire (Philippa Northeast) before the pair relocated to Vietnam, we're wondering whether there's a chance he might return to Summer Bay. "The funny thing was that I ended up - a few months after I finished up [on Home & Away] - randomly going to Vietnam on a holiday, which was weird; continuing some character research." He then acknowledges of the Home & Away newlyweds, "We didn't die, so I was thinking maybe Matt could come back as some kinda, like, opium drug lord or something like that and he made some connections in Vietnam while he was over there." Yet another drug dealer on the Bay? "Exactly," he laughs. "I mean, there's never a shortage so, why not?"

Catnip Productions presents The Nether, 13 Sep — 7 Oct at the Seymour Centre.