Previews: TOUCHING THE VOID at Stageworks Theatre

On January 16 – February 1, Stageworks Theatre is preparing to take audiences into one of the most perilous survival stories ever recorded with its upcoming production of Touching the Void. The play recounts the 1985 Siula Grande expedition that pushed climbers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates to the edge of human endurance. To capture the scale of that ordeal, Stageworks has constructed a towering 18-foot mountain inside the theatre, a sculpted mass of ice, rock, and shadow that dominates the space the moment the lights come up.

Director Karla Hartley recognized immediately that the story demanded a set as formidable as the mountain itself. “When I chose the play I knew it would be big and we would need to fulfill the mountain. I knew it would be the biggest set we had ever undertaken.” The design required months of planning, engineering, and coordination, including the challenge of building the structure off-site and transporting it into the theatre.

Hartley described, “The biggest challenge was to find someone who could build it off-site so it would be ready for first rehearsal. I knew I couldn’t stage the play with out the full set in place.”

The mountain is not just scenery. It is a physical partner in every scene, shaping the actors’ movement, breath, and pacing. “I needed the mountain to stage the play. I had never worked with a set of this magnitude.” Even with its imposing realism, she leaned into the play’s illusory qualities. “It is a dream play at its core. So even the realism is tinged with theatricality.”

Actor Luis Rivera, who plays Joe Simpson, encountered the mountain as both a technical challenge and an emotional landscape. His first impression captured the scale of what he was stepping into. “… How? This isn’t something you see on a theatre stage often.” Rivera brought climbing experience into the role, but the icy verticality of the set required new skills and extensive research. “I’ve never been on an ice wall before so figuring out how to place an axe, where to place my foot and traverse around the mountain believably was definitely a challenge that research help remedy.”

The physical demands of the production require constant awareness. “There’s no time to lose even an inch of focus," he explained. "From the lines to the actual climbing you have to be locked in, otherwise mistakes happen and risk to injury is prominent.”

For Hartley, the danger is not a complication but a storytelling asset. The mountain’s unpredictability mirrors the real expedition, and she hopes audiences feel that intensity the moment they enter the theatre. “I want the audience to be impressed by the reveal in act 1.”

The emotional core of the play hits Rivera hardest in its final moments. “There’s something beautiful about Joe’s realization that he’s going to die. We see this moment with all the things he loves around him. I feel as though this is what we see in our final moments and to actualize that on stage is a deep, powerful feeling.”

Hartley hopes audiences leave with a sense of both the story and the craft behind it. “We have never done anything like this play. I want people to engage in the story as well as the storytelling.”

When asked to capture the production in a single word, she chose one that reflects both the scale and the spirit of the work. “Badass. Cause it is.”