Ellen Leslie
Imagine there was a therapy that allowed you to revisit the people that you thought were gone forever, and create new memories with them. Would you want to do it?
That is the premise of An Echo In The Void, the latest offering from award-winning writer and director Jason Weiss. Sanctuary is the world’s first neural therapeutic experience, allowing patients to embark on a personal journey from the comfort of their homes to switch off from the burden of everyday life and overcome their traumas. Originally created by one man to help him with social anxiety and a stammer, it is now used by 1.7 billion people across the planet. However, the technology is rapidly becoming more powerful, and when four people find themselves trapped in a space that is constantly studying and responding to them, ethical questions about its use are raised.
At first, it is tricky to grasp the abstract concepts and understand the show’s premise, but it soon begins to make sense. This is greatly helped by the brilliant storytelling, which provides vivid backstories for the characters and helps us to feel empathy for them despite their flaws. Their personal connections to Sanctuary all differ: cut-throat CEO Miranda Voss (Lee Rodriguez) uses it to escape the reality of her cancer diagnosis, while the quiet inventor Arthur Graft (Sunkrish Bala) has a space where he no longer has a stammer and social anxiety. Sanctuary provides Toby Coleman (Adam Sinclair) with the ability to see his army friends grow up and free himself of the guilt he feels surrounding their deaths, and journalist Ivy Reyes (Grace Serrano) hopes to expose the technology’s darker side after her parents become overly reliant on it following her sister’s death.
There are strong performances from the whole cast, which is unsurprising considering their wealth of experience. What’s particularly striking is how well they convey their characters’ pain and grief. Serrano and Sinclair do an exceptional job of this; their eyes glistening with tears as they recount the pain of losing their loved ones. Rodriguez excels in the role of Miranda, allowing her vulnerability to shine through her tough exterior. Bala effortlessly slips between confidence and meekness, showing the difference in Arthur’s persona when he is inside Sanctuary. Their emotionally charged performances leave little room for humour; I wouldn’t describe it as a “darkly funny” show as the listing does.
Lighting and sound are used effectively to show when Sanctuary is interfering with the group, whether that is through pulling them into each other’s memories, or compelling them to spread its message to “escape the suffering”. In-keeping with the title, there is no set, which helps us to understand the expansiveness and possibilities of the space. There are no props either, which makes it difficult to understand some scenes at the start, particularly when they are dragged into an old memory of Toby playing cards with his army friends: it is not immediately obvious that the characters have turned into Toby’s friends. But as the show progresses and the concept becomes clearer, the actors completely bring the scene alive through just their performances. The scene where Ivy meets her younger sister who has grown up, for example, is extremely effective, and very poignant.
Through powerful storytelling, An Echo In The Void explores the benefits and dangers of AI and technology. It doesn’t give us a clear answer or attempt to sway us one way or the other, but instead poses questions that will stay with the audience long after the play is finished.
Recommended drink: There’s a cocktail called The Void: lime juice, cherry juice, crème de menth, white rum and black sugar. Just make sure that Sanctuary doesn’t suck you in so much that you forget to drink it…
Catch An Echo In The Void from 6-29 August (not 19) at 16:40 (60 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Image credit: John Scott
Isobel Jacob
Freddie Haberfellner
Hannah Hamilton
