Merely Beloved‘s mystery plot is a colourful tangle: Elaine, the show’s narrator and chief investigator, keeps getting ensnared. Her late husband Joe leaves a vivid impression on every scene, from his tumultuous death in the opening scene to the wild tales about his chaotic antics. Elaine must try to make sense of the mess he and his well-meaning relatives have left behind. Our narrator, however, proves to be just as startling and eccentric as her late husband.

Elaine’s grief journey is recognisable in places: the desperate attempt to move forward, the search for answers, the random bouts of anger and the moments of dark humour where the grieving pick holes in the logic of afterlife stories and the idea of comfort behind the grave. Elaine’s worries take her in an unorthodox direction, as she suspects that her husband’s ghost is cheating on her in the great beyond. Her character seems determined to take one look at the prevailing social norms surrounding tragic death, and then charge headlong in the other direction.

The physical comedy is top-notch. Side characters come and go in the form of bold impressions in short segments that don’t outstay their welcome. Shoshana McCallum has a great sense for facial and gestural language, giving us a quick and recognisable snapshot of a person, a laugh to lift the mood before we’re back into the thick of Elaine’s paranormal paranoia.

McCallum picks a mordant selection of backing tracks to showcase her body language in short dance or mime interludes. She uses these breaks to create startling scene transitions, to lighten the mood after a quieter scene or to create a slow build of mortified delight, as the audience matches up the song to the subject matter.

McCallum’s big energy – or is that Elaine’s big energy? – is the perfect way to illustrate what makes both Joe and Elaine appealing as a couple. There is something so brilliant about a character who can vividly describe all the infuriatingly loveable aspects of her partner but fail to recognise those same qualities in her own personality. McCallum delights in the strangeness of Elaine’s worldview – yet underneath the randomness, a surprisingly consistent and clever little story lurks, waiting for attentive audience members to put it all together at the end. This is a mystery story, after all. 

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