The Play: Touching to Void
The Company: Melbourne Theatre Company
The Theatre: Southbank Theatre
Stars: 4
Until: 19 February.
Why is it you find a play you want to tell everybody about and it's closing the following night?
Touching the Void is such a play.
Based on a true story, it relates the tale of two climbers who come into a bit of misadventure on top of a peak in the Andes, it relates how Simon is able to get off the mountain, while Joe is left for dead in the bottom of the cravasse. And as Joe says, if he was in the same boat, we would have left Simon for if he was in the same situation.
Going into the play knowing the story having seen the film of the same name nearly 20 years ago, I was blown away by this.
Firstly, the staging is inventive and incredible as Simon (Kevin Hofbauer) and Joe ( Joe Klocek) scale a virtual mountain, then have to make their way back down it in their own ways. At the base of the mountain, looking after their stuff is the hapless Richard (Karl Richmond) who provides comic relief for what is a tense hour and forty minutes. Lucy Durack plays Sarah, Joe's sister, who is the moral compass of the play.
The company manages to take the audience up the mountain, and down again in an inventive and affecting play, adapted from Joe Simpson's book by David Greig. There were some other great touches, like the jukebox, which was playing 80s standards. You can't go wrong with this.
I knew the story after seeing the film. Many going to the play didn't have that luxury and there were many gasps from the audience, who thought they were going to Joe's wake at a remote bar in Scotland.
Thankfully, no, this was not the case.
The play closed this evening, which is a pity, because a lot more people could have enjoyed this play. The MTC have got off to a great start this year. Here's hoping they keep at this incredible level of production.
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