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Touching The Void
Bristol Old Vic
HOW do you transpose Joe Simpson’s harrowing 1988 account of his epic, life-affirming battle for survival after a horrific climbing accident in the Peruvian Andes to the stage ? Or recreate the drama of the visually stunning 2003 film adaptation? Triumphantly, this production shows how.
Writer David Greig turns the first-person narrative into a psychological drama, with Simpson’s sister Sarah becoming the spirit guide to the three-man expedition. She demands their justifications for ascending the previously unclimbed route, tormenting and provoking Simpson onward when he's left for dead.
Fiona Hamilton’s feisty and determined Sarah shares the role of narrator with Patrick McNamee’s Richard, the eternally light-hearted and nerdish backpacker who accompanied the trio to the base camp, and their non-sentimental and frequently matter-of-fact accounts effectively contrast with the gruelling reality of the climb and the intensity of Simpson’s agony.
Ti Green’s angular lattice set stunningly reproduces the ice, snow and rock of Siula Grande and Chris Davey’s radial lighting transforms the sparse Scottish inn of the opening into a believable mountain up which the climbers battle, bed down in snow holes and take falls. Both the height and the depth of the stage is utilised to accentuate Simpson’s near-fatal fall into a crevasse.
Director Tom Morris builds the drama by utilising the basic set of the opening scene to recreate the moraine fields and rock faces of the mountains before racking up the tension high above the stage. Simpson’s agonising accident and excruciating odyssey is skilfully handled to stress the suffering, without becoming overly oppressive.
The physical demands on the two performers, Edward Hayter as Simon and Josh Williams as Joe, are considerable and their breathless communication above howling winds, contortions over precipitous rock faces and acts of endurance are spellbinding.
Williams drags us with him over every inch of his agonising route back down.
This production is far more than an epic climb and struggle for survival. It becomes a psychological exploration of life on the edge and of what keeps us going beyond the possible when faced with the void.
It's a truly remarkable play to open the new-look Bristol Old Vic.
Runs until October 6, box office: bristololdvic.org.uk
