South West What's On

A Story of Survival - Touching The Void

Britain’s Oldest Working Theatre reopens its doors with adrenaline-fuelled 5-star hit Touching the Void and invites you to watch it from wherever you are in the World.

  • Touching the Void reopens the 255-year-old Bristol Old Vic to live audiences in Bristol and all over the world.
  • Cutting-edge camera techniques and a newly-created binaural sound design will plunge home viewers crevasse-deep into the immersive experience of the live show.
  • 5-star production returns with its celebrated West End cast.
  • A collaboration between Bristol Old Vic, Fiery Angel, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Fuel.

After four months with its doors closed by the pandemic, Bristol Old Vic – one of the world’s greatest theatrical survival stories – is brought back to life with this epic tale of human endurance and friendship.

Touching the Void’s world premiere opened Bristol Old Vic’s multimillion-pound redevelopment in 2018, and marked a new era for the theatre. The show went on to garner 5-star reviews, a West End run and UK tour as audiences were left reeling from this daring and imaginative tour-de-force.

From May, for one week only (26-29 May), Touching the Void returns for its next bold adventure in theatrical risk-taking, as Bristol Old Vic collaborates with original co-producing partners Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Royal & Derngate Northampton, Fuel and also Fiery Angel, who presented the West End run in association with Ambassador Theatre Group Productions. Tickets on general sale from Wed 21 Apr at 3pm.

Learning from the digital experiments of the last 12 months, Bristol Old Vic will bring together the intimacy of live performance with the technical power of digital theatre to create a binaural, multi-camera, and totally live story, allowing viewers at home to also experience the show from every heart-stopping angle, alongside the audience in the theatre.

Directed by Tony Award-winning Tom Morris (War Horse) and based on Joe Simpson’s bestselling memoir turned BAFTA-winning film, David Greig’s thrilling adaptation charts this breathtaking struggle for survival.

Perched on an unstable snow-cliff and battered by freezing winds, Simon is desperate to rescue his injured climbing partner who hangs from a rope below him. Meanwhile, Joe teeters on the brink of death and despair in a crevasse from which he can’t possibly climb to safety. Life-affirming and often darkly funny, Touching the Void takes the audience on an epic adventure that asks how far you’d be willing to go to survive.

The West End cast return for this limited one-week run in the theatre. Josh Williams returns to the role of Joe Simpson, alongside Angus Yellowlees as Simon, Patrick McNamee as Richard and Fiona Hampton as Sarah.
 
LISTINGS INFORMATION:
Touching the Void
A Bristol Old Vic, Fiery Angel, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Royal & Derngate Northampton and Fuel co-production (presented in the West End in association with Ambassador Theatre Group Productions)
Based on the book by Joe Simpson
Adapted by David Greig
Directed by Tom Morris

Dates: 26-29 May
Times: 8pm (Live broadcast & In person)
Price: £10 (open concs) / £15 (standard) / £25, £50 & £100 (pay it forward)
@BristolOldVic #TouchingTheVoid
https://bristololdvic.org.uk/touching-the-void

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