Above : Shirong Wu, Leeanna Walsman and Di Adams in THE ELEVATOR. Pic Prudence Upton.
Eloise Snape is an award winning playwright, actor and producer. THE ELEVATOR is her second play after PONY at the Griffin Theatre.
THE ELEVATOR is about three modern career women, living in our world of advanced technology. Their struggles and sacrifices. The compromises they have to make to stay afloat or expose the truth.
Tech/AI savvy & swish company, ECO ENGINES, is on a downward spiral. An ‘incident’ (we don’t say accident or crash) has happened with one of their driverless cars. It has hit and severely injured a male pedestrian. CEO Margot is back from maternity leave with a new PR girl to fix the PR nightmare.
Margot, (Leeanna Walsman), and her newly trained PR girl Alison, (Shirong Wu), – whose name Margot can never remember – are on their way to Level 48, the conference room, for urgent damage control.
They are in a swish elevator, with a swish AI ‘voice over’ man, (Johnny Nasser), who was formerly CEO, demoted for allegations of sexual misconduct, still employed, crooning from the speaker, ready to answer any question he is asked. A female CEO was an appropriate ‘damage control’ decision.
Enter a third woman, Ollie, (Di Adams), who is unknown to Margot and Alison. She is dressed casually and carries her janitor workbox. Margot is stressed and impatient, giving orders to Alison who is apologising profusely. Ollie observes silently.
It becomes obvious that they are trapped in the elevator and will be for some time. They gradually open up to each other.
Ollie is the only one who remains as cool as a cucumber. She relates her ‘I was a London cab driver’ story – her “give me an address, a suburb to get to” party trick. She remembers the names of every street on route. Margot, whose newborn baby is in hospital at one day old, becomes more vulnerable when her breast milk leaks through her corporate silk suit. Sadly, the pressure and problems of her job become her first priority, so she carries a breast milk pump. Alison is trying very hard to do and say the right thing, occasionally with bursts of hysterical laughter or crying, we are not sure which.
The three actresses do a splendid job together. The story gets more interesting as it progresses and truths begin to cut through the corporate game playing.
Director Anthea Williams has done a great job of continuing the flow of movement in a confined space. The AI voice over is a great tool for comic relief, especially when it changes languages to Italian.
Kelsey Lee has done a wonderful job with the set and lighting design. Strong colour changes enhance the mood.
Daniel Herten does a great sound design. The dark deep drone of the moving elevator shaft is foreboding.
THE ELEVATOR is a stimulating and well constructed play. It makes us think about the sacrifices we all make to fit in to the expectations of our environments. There is a strong sense of mystery in the first half of the play. We don’t know what will happen. Things cleverly shift later on.
THE ELEVATOR plays at the Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli, until the 18th October, 2026.
