Afterglow, at Chapel Off Chapel - 80 minutes, without interval

Provocative from the opening scene, Afterglow sets out to push the envelope.

It starts with shadow play of a heated ménage à trois between three buff men, two in their 30s and one in his 20s.

Thereafter, the play features full frontal nudity and steamy shower scenes.

Photos by Cameron Grant

Yes, a real shower with an imposingly large shower head is prominent centre stage in several scenes.

The contention is this:

Alex (Julian Curtis) and Josh (Matthew Mitcham) are married and soon to be parents via surrogacy.

At the same time, they readily embrace an open relationship and that is when Darius (Matthew Predny) enters the frame.

Everyone is into each other and the sex between them is hot.

Josh reveals that he and Alex combine friendship and sex, and so it is that they sleep with a lot of their friends.

The simple rules they follow are that they tell each other everything and there are no sleep overs with third parties.

When it comes to their relationship, Josh is more needy, while Alex is often tired after work and wants time to himself.

Twenty-five-year-old massage therapist Darius confesses he is relatively inexperienced when it comes to relationships.

But Josh, who turns 35 on his next birthday, is into him and vice versa.

Although Darius is at first reluctant to develop the hook up into anything more permanent with Josh, he quickly relents.

Alex is okay with that, as long as he can put an end to it at any time.

And that is the problem. 

Josh and Darius develop real feelings for one another and the toxic face of jealousy enters the frame.

Further, Josh withholds from Alex an important element in his relationship with Darius.

Playwright, choreographer and director S. Asher Gelman and his husband (on whom he modelled the character of Alex) opened up their relationship at the start of 2014.

Soon thereafter, Gelman began an intense extramarital relationship with another man, which deeply rocked his marriage.

From that personal experience came Afterglow, which premiered off Broadway in New York in 2017 and has also been seen in Los Angeles and London.

Superbly realised by the three actors in its Australian premiere, there is strong emotional resonance in the work.

Passion gives way to angst and desperation, as communication and trust become the central issues.

Each character experiences unprecedented pain, which is evident in how Alex, Josh and Darius are portrayed. 

The well-choreographed scenes of intimacy readily resonate.

The contemporary, boxy, black, mirrored set design by Ann Beyersdorfer works a treat, in combination with the duality of soft and harsh lighting from Jamie Roderick.

The often-minimalistic costuming by Lauren Peters is appropriate to the conceit, as is the evocative sound design by Alex Mackyol.

Afterglow successfully navigates the vicissitudes of an intimate threesome, in which honesty is compromised, as the ground rules give way to true feelings.

Eighty minutes without interval, it is on at Chapel Off Chapel until 21^st February, as part of the Midsumma Festival.