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Post by altamont on Sept 30, 2018 11:39:15 GMT
Saw this last evening in the Bristol Old Vic - a stunning recreation of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' mountaineering experiences in the Andes in 1985. The story is well known - a near unbelievable tale of life or death decisions and the struggle to survive - and was turned into a movie 15 years or so ago. The stage recreation is brilliantly realised, with a cast of four and an amazing production design bringing the story to life. Despite being about the least active person imaginable, I have a strange fascination with mountain climbing, but you really don't need to share that to enjoy this - it has a week to go in Bristol then moves on to Northampton and Edinburgh.
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Post by Backdrifter on Oct 15, 2018 10:50:23 GMT
...and Inverness, where I'm planning to see it. Thanks for the positive comments, I'd decided to see it anyway but it's good to see your view on it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2018 11:49:04 GMT
Funnily enough I've had my void touched in Bristol, Northampton AND Edinburgh too. I can highly recommend it.
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Post by Scots UK Theatre on Nov 18, 2018 14:08:49 GMT
Read that this has a 30 minute interval. Is that correct? I’m assuming that it’s for a set change.
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Post by robertb213 on Nov 18, 2018 16:23:39 GMT
Yes the interval was around 30 minutes when we had it in Northampton 😀
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Post by duncan on Feb 15, 2019 11:45:47 GMT
2. Touching the Void - Royal Lyceum Joe Simpson is dead, killed in a mountaineering incident in Peru. His wake is being held in Glencoe and his sister is there and wanting answers - why do they climb? is dying not that important to climbers? and how and why did Joe die?
Unfortunately for the wake attendees and Joe, he isnt dead but instead finds himself stuck on a ledge in sub zero temperatures with a broken leg, no food or water and several miles of inhospitable terrain between him and,maybe, safety Entertaining stuff with an interestingly impressive set design. A cast of 4 - Joe, Simon (the rope cutter), Richard (the man at basecamp) and Sarah (sister) are our only characters here and all of them give fine performances. Sarah is the showy character, she gets the anger and the intensity (with a bit of climbing). The sound design is exception, you can never go wrong by including some Joy Division, and there are interesting lighting choices. A fair chunk of the action takes place on the giant climbing frame that makes a dramatic, if slooooooooooooooow, entrance and its to the credit of the actors that they can still perform whilst also attaching and detaching themselves to the frame and moving across it in several different directions. There is an odd directoral quirk - when Sarah asks a question at the wake and we flash back, for some odd reason he's made the actors all sort of lean back and adapt odd facial expressions. Bizarre. Of course it isnt really a wake, its all a figment of the imagination of Joe as he lies on the ice ledge, and this is heavily hinted at in Act 1 - I picked up on the major Richard related clue and then actually explained in the second act. which makes it an interesting way to tell the story as whilst the sister is our way into the lifes of these people we are actually getting Joe's idea of what his sister would actually do in the circumstances. The issue I have is that all of the characters are cyphers, there is no meat on their characterisation. Yes we want Joe to live but thats because the actor playing him is giving it all in tricky circumstances rather than we actually like the character. If you want to see actors climbing a giant climbing frame then this is the show for you - even if you've only ever wanted to see an actor climb a table then this is the show for you. And of course it ends just as the story actually gets really interesting. with the rescue of Joe, surely there would be some worthwhile drama in the reallife aftermath but I guess they want to end on a high - with a massive photo of the beautiful mountain dominating the stage as. Never less than enthralling, with some perfect character performances. See it, because its there, 8/10 The interval last night was around 25 minutes and it still ran around 10 minutes over the advertised run time.
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Post by Rory on May 13, 2019 10:08:33 GMT
Transfers to the Duke of York's.
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2,481 posts
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Post by zahidf on May 13, 2019 10:28:28 GMT
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Post by thedude12 on Nov 5, 2019 21:03:52 GMT
Anybody going to see this? I've been interested in seeing this for a while now and hopefully it's as good as some of the feedback it got last year.
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529 posts
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Post by jampot on Nov 5, 2019 23:47:24 GMT
Anybody going to see this? I've been interested in seeing this for a while now and hopefully it's as good as some of the feedback it got last year. There on the 23rd Nov.. |
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837 posts
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Post by duncan on Nov 6, 2019 8:05:07 GMT
They were moving the mountain out of the back of a lorry and into the theatre when I passed on monday
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Post by Lemansky on Nov 6, 2019 9:36:57 GMT
We're going on Saturday and really looking forward to it. Having read the script last year I really enjoyed it, although I have read the book a couple of times as well. Aside from a couple of additions it did seem a good, fairly straight, adaptation of the story.
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Post by Lemansky on Nov 10, 2019 11:03:41 GMT
We enjoyed seeing this last night, but if you're sitting in the upper circle & are not in the centre seats you miss quite a lot as they do everything that's not the climbing at the front of the stage.
We did have a very brief show stop yesterday, sadly right before the climax to the first half but they sorted it, the actors finished the scene well & then we went into the interval. I also think the interval ran at least 1p minutes over yesterday, it felt very long, but hopefully that will get sorted as the run continues.
The theatre was nearly full as far as I could tell which was good. It's a good adaptation & has made me want to reread the book.
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Post by zahidf on Nov 10, 2019 12:47:06 GMT
£20 today tix rush tickets for this from next week
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Post by youngoffender on Nov 25, 2019 14:09:04 GMT
I saw this over the weekend and feel that it had been slightly overpraised in some circles - the *** Sunday Times review got it about right. Much will depend on how much you know of the story already. The first half is the stronger, with some inventive staging and an inspired depiction of the scale of the challenge facing Simpson and Yates. The use of Simpson's sister as a narrative device is also an interesting move. After the interval, though, it's all about his (long) struggle to survive, and here I don't think the play adds anything to the book or the film.
The show carries a language warning. I'm quite relaxed about robust vocabulary in the right context, but here the repetition just felt egregious, and I was embarrassed for the parents of young children in the audience. |
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Post by Rory on Nov 25, 2019 17:40:10 GMT
I'm bringing my kids to this next year. Hope booking it wasn't a massive misjudgment on my part! 😩 (although suspect it may well have been!)
And there was me giving out on here about the people bringing their kids to The Inheritance.
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Post by noboiscout on Nov 25, 2019 18:55:31 GMT
I saw this over the weekend and feel that it had been slightly overpraised in some circles - the *** Sunday Times review got it about right. Much will depend on how much you know of the story already. The first half is the stronger, with some inventive staging and an inspired depiction of the scale of the challenge facing Simpson and Yates. The use of Simpson's sister as a narrative device is also an interesting move. After the interval, though, it's all about his (long) struggle to survive, and here I don't think the play adds anything to the book or the film.
The show carries a language warning. I'm quite relaxed about robust vocabulary in the right context, but here the repetition just felt egregious, and I was embarrassed for the parents of young children in the audience. I agree youngoffender. For me this stage version managed to strip most of the drama out of what is (in book and on film) a very dramatic story. Not keen on the casting especially for Joe's sister. And the changes to the actual story and what happened in reality, left me very disappointed. |
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Post by jampot on Nov 26, 2019 3:49:40 GMT
They were moving the mountain out of the back of a lorry and into the theatre when I passed on monday A stagehand called Faith was in charge. Faith can move mountains, you know. I'll get me coat. Peaked too early there Monkey... |
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Post by meister on Nov 26, 2019 10:31:30 GMT
They were moving the mountain out of the back of a lorry and into the theatre when I passed on monday A stagehand called Faith was in charge. Faith can move mountains, you know. Expect she was tired after that. She don’t ever rest.... |
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Post by jampot on Nov 26, 2019 10:31:44 GMT
Just trying to alp out, was all. Heavens above! |
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Post by alexandra on Nov 26, 2019 12:09:59 GMT
Her muscles ached that much, she had a real cramp-on. Had to sit down with a glass of carabiner sauvignon |
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Post by Mark on Dec 11, 2019 17:10:26 GMT
Really enjoyed this one today! Picked up a front row dayseat (BB9) at around 1pm. Great view, although looking up a lot as the stage is high. I think anyone under around 5ft 8 will struggle especially in act two as a lot of the action takes place at floor level. Next to no legroom but the cloth in front is atleast squishy!
I wasn’t familiar with the story and hadn’t read the book or watched the film. I found it fascinating and would highly recommend, especially if you don’t know the story.
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Post by edi on Dec 11, 2019 22:09:09 GMT
Really enjoyed this one today! Picked up a front row dayseat (BB9) at around 1pm. Great view, although looking up a lot as the stage is high. I think anyone under around 5ft 8 will struggle especially in act two as a lot of the action takes place at floor level. Next to no legroom but the cloth in front is atleast squishy! I wasn’t familiar with the story and hadn’t read the book or watched the film. I found it fascinating and would highly recommend, especially if you don’t know the story. I've been planning to pick up a dayseat. I'm 5,10 and usually find the duke of york stage just right, I can just about see the stage floor if I sit upright. Is the stage built up for this? I am a bit concerned that the play either takes place on the floor (injured chap) or very high on the climbing frame. thanks. |
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Post by perfectspy on Dec 25, 2019 2:22:25 GMT
I saw this play yesterday and thought it was very good. A quite gripping story (pardon the pun) enjoyed from seat K12 from a time out ticket deal. I need to watch the film now.
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Post by edi on Jan 21, 2020 8:04:40 GMT
Front row day seat is a very good value. Stage is just about eye level which came handy for the second half which was mostly played out on floor level.
I liked this very much, I thought the story telling was good and minimalist stage furniture was used very imaginatively. The mountain was impressive.
I need to read the book now.
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