As I sat to watch my second of three shows, Crossing The Void, at the Venue 3 at The Space On The Mile, I thought I was in for a normal comedy piece about five friends and a silly fake Séance-gone-wrong. Boy was I wrong. What I watched over the next 70 or so minutes was one of the best things you can see at this year’s Fringe, in my humble opinion.
Hannah has been dead for a year and her pals are still struggling to find their feet. Hoping a séance will bring the group together again, the girls toast, celebrate and mourn over a bottle of Bucky. That’s all I’m gonna give you.
Zara Louise Kennedy is brilliant as Lorna. She is the outsider, the outcast of the “friend group” who is inadvertently hilarious, constantly saying the wrong thing and at the worst time. She appears on stage from nowhere, very in character for her, and didn’t show up to Hannah’s funeral. This sets her apart from the rest of the group, but Kennedy never lets that become daunting, or dent her portrayal in anyway. She plays the outsider so well; the audience can relate to any time they have felt that way. Lorna’s character develops the most through the story and Kennedy makes this change with incredible ease. We feel sorry for her, unsure about her and uneasy around her, yet you can’t take your eyes off her. The end of her arc is thrilling and something that will stick with you afterwards.
Zoe Isobel Kinniburgh plays Josie, the sister of the deceased Hannah. Kinniburgh’s performance is gentle and subtle. The reason the friend group is at this anniversary is mainly because Josie was ok with it. Other characters tiptoe around her, as to not upset her, yet Kinniburgh manages to make Josie feel strong and polite, mainly trying to make sure everyone is happy. This could have been a limiting intention to play for most of the runtime, but Josie never feels restricted, and a revelation about her character late on is emotionally poignant and makes audience perception of her change, yet she retains their sympathy.
Evie Mortimer is great as Charlie. Mortimer has the toughest time when it comes to emotionally heavy moments, and that’s saying something, yet this never seems to phase her. She is reserved and closed off to the others and is very defensive throughout, making the audience question what she could be hiding. It’s testament to Mortimer that even though she seems tightly strung and distant, she can connect with them so fully like she manages to do by the end. Another lovely twist makes the audience completely rethink their prejudgements towards her and Mortimer plays this contradiction with ease.
Georgia-Lee Roberts is excellent as Abby. Abby is the uptight control freak of the group, wanting to do something fancy for the séance-dinner-party they are having. Abby is the glue of the group, yet Roberts manages to make her feel as if she’s the one who needs the most emotional support. Roberts’ portrayal is pitiful as she is high strung yet is clearly grieving and hurting in an unhealthy way. With a moment of emotional weakness that’ll make the audience well up, it’s safe to say Roberts has a firm grasp on her character and the journey of grief she has gone through over the past year.
Amelia Fleur Yayici is superb as Finn. She is the comedic relief amongst a really funny cast. Finn’s drug dealing side job is a point of contention in the group but no one, including the audience, can ever stay mad at her. Yayici makes Finn incredibly likeable and natural from the off. She’s the first to throw in a joke to break the tension, but Yayici finds a way to make her softer moments really work and feel earned. It could have been very easy to make Finn way over the top, or too big for the rest of the cast, but at no point does Finn ever feel out of place, Yayici is so good at finding the balance in her character that makes her incredibly fun to watch on stage.
Grace Baker did very well as Director. Scene changes were very smooth, and the video clips played through a monitor on stage were very effective and set a very creepy or solemn tone throughout. These recorded scenes were also very well put together and clearly had a lot of thought put into them. The production as a whole really maintained a creepy and eerie feeling, attention to detail and very good blocking of scenes, where all five characters were on stage no less, ensures that Baker engrosses her audience from start to finish. The ability to handle all characters in a relatively small space while keeping each one as interesting as the other truly was a landmark of how good Baker handles her actors. Sound and lighting by Lewis Gemmell and Marco Merone were excellent. Lights were used to great effect during some of the séance scenes, one moment in particular making the audience’s skin crawl from head to toe. The play itself was written expertly by Sally MacAlister. This play has so much nuance and layers to it it’s probably hard to catch it all in one viewing, but what you can gather truly shows how much of an established writer MacAlister is. She writes women who feel real and alive. The story of a group of friends trying to recover after they lose a friend to suicide is dark, brave and exhilarating. There are so many hidden moments that all hint at things to come that all make sense once the action has all taken place, highlighting the thought that went into every word and scene.
Overall, this was an astounding production. It’s easy to get used to a certain standard when attending many different fringe plays, and when one sits above the rest its incredibly exciting. Crossing The Void has a very talented cast, an incredible script and is full of people passionate about telling this story. With themes of mental health and secrets that can tear apart friendships, this is mature and effective theatre just waiting to be taken in by the public. Go and see this play.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Get tickets for ‘Crossing The Void’ below:
Theatre Scotland 
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