Tag Archives: David Greig

Touching the Void

Touching the Void

★★★★

Duke of York’s Theatre

Touching the Void

Touching the Void

Duke of York’s Theatre

Reviewed – 15th November 2019

★★★★

 

“does not lack suspense, or imaginative touches in the staging”

 

Adapting Joe Simpson’s epic tale of survival on the Peruvian Siula Grande mountain for the theatre is no easy task. But then playwright David Greig, like mountaineer Simpson, is not the kind of man to avoid a challenge just because it’s difficult, or has never been done before. Nevertheless, theatres, like mountains, are well known for the unexpected ways in which they can put obstacles in the paths of even the most gifted. This revival of Greig’s play at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London just misses a chance at greatness.

Greig was invited to produce a play script of Touching the Void after director Tom Morris, inspired by Simpson’s book, and the BAFTA winning film of the same title, wanted to adapt it for the stage. Sensibly opting against a naturalistic interpretation, Greig wrote instead a “mythic reading of a real event”. He changes the sequence of events—beginning instead with an imagined wake for Joe after he has been left for dead on the mountain. Greig also brings on board a new character, Sarah, Joe’s sister, who in reality had died some years before Joe and climbing partner Simon Yates make their climb (Greig obtained Simpson’s permission to write in Sarah). These changes serve as powerful attention getters; Sarah herself becomes an important part of Joe’s fight for survival in the second half of the show. And then there is the non-human force, the Void, which could be interpreted as the mythic antagonist against which Joe and Simon must battle to win the mountain, and live to tell the tale.

Touching the Void does not lack suspense, or imaginative touches in the staging. Watching actors Josh Williams (Joe) and Angus Yellowlees (Simon) climb all over Ti Green’s ingenious set is exciting, though the climbing accolades should probably go to Fiona Hampton (Sarah) when she takes an impromptu climbing lesson by scrambling up a “mountain face” composed entirely of pub tables and chairs haphazardly attached to the wall downstage right. It’s moments like these that emphasise the theatricality of director Tom Morris’ production, but they can only do so much in holding the audience’s attention throughout the entire play.

The choice of venue for this revival reveals the weaknesses in the script. Even with the actual proscenium arch removed, the Duke of York’s is still a problematic space for a play that cries out to be performed, at the very least, on a more flexible stage. Script wise, it’s clever of Greig to use the character of Sarah to propel the drama forward (she is the one that insists her brother cannot be dead, and goes in search of him) but the play still devolves into a belaboured enactment of Joe’s painful struggle back to base camp in the second, with Sarah becoming a product of his fevered imaginings as he hovers between life and death. From a seat in the stalls at the Duke of York’s, it is hard to see Joe in the second half, because he spends so much time flat on the stage floor. Greig’s dramatisation of the Void, a force that cannot be seen even though we see its effects on the characters, is a brilliant touch, but the ethereal nature of its presence makes it an unreliable source for narrative clarification. And finally, it is impossible to avoid the distancing effect that a picture frame stage places upon audiences watching actors come to grips simultaneously with intimate scenes set against vast panoramas.

 

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Michael Wharley

 


Touching the Void

Duke of York’s Theatre until 29th February

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Rosmersholm | ★★★★ | May 2019
The Son | ★★★★★ | September 2019

 

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Chambers
★★★★

Secret Location

Chambers

Chambers

Secret London Location

Reviewed – 23rd July 2019

★★★★

 

“a charmingly chaotic chimera of styles; as if Lewis Carroll had been aboard the Dr Who scriptwriting team”

 

The first, and most important, rule is: “You must keep all you see inside our worlds a secret”. Which kind of lets me off the hook. It gives me license to end the review here and take my coffee into the garden to enjoy the sunshine. It wouldn’t make my editor happy. But nor me, come to think of it. This is one of those events that leave you aching to tell everybody about.

Somewhere in Hoxton, Gingerline, the acclaimed group of dining adventurers, embark on another of their immersive dining experiences. The nomadic theatrical supper club, previously popping up in various secret locations along the East London Line (The ‘ginger’ line on the Tube map) specialise in surprise. I was lucky enough to journey on their ‘Grand Expedition’ back in February – but even that familiarity doesn’t prepare you for the next course.

So, what can I say about this palette twisting, interactive, multi-dimensional dining adventure? There are five chambers (as the title suggests) which represent five different dimensions. These are not so much dimensions as alcoves of the imagination. Recesses that you didn’t know existed, or you’d forgotten were there all along. Chambers, in fact, full of all those colourful thoughts, ideas and perceptions you thought you’d grown out of. And to match this, a cacophony of flavours is served up to tease and then satisfy the palate.

We are told to leave our belongings in the cloakroom before entering this alien world. It is a good idea, too, to leave your mind. Oh – and your expectations, preconceptions, rationality, common sense and reason. You do get your belongings back when you leave. As for the rest – that’s up to you. But what you do take away is a lasting memory of a very different and exhilarating night out. I can’t really tell you more. And you shouldn’t try to find out either.

The experience has a style all of its own. Or rather, it is a charmingly chaotic chimera of styles; as if Lewis Carroll had been aboard the Dr Who scriptwriting team, or Christmas and Easter had a baby. The latter was one of the hosts’ observations – so don’t ask me to explain that particular metaphor. Which is the crux of the evening. It defies explanation. It rejects categorisation, disobeys the rules of entertainment and abandons dining etiquette. All in all, an irresistible recipe.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by David Greig

 

Gingerline Proudly Presents

Chambers

Secret London Location 

 

Previous Gingerline experience:
The Grand Expedition | ★★★★★ | Secret Location | February 2019

 

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