Writer: Simon Marshall
Director: Oli Savage
Staging a two-hander about mountaineering in a small basement theatre may sound like an insurmountable task, but Lucy Wells and Jack Gray pull it off without a hitch (or crampon) in sight. Navigating the awkward space of the Glitch, they tell a wonderful story of grief and determination.
The pair is helped by the quality of Simon Marshall’s writing, full of lovely detail about the brother and sister whose mother disappears while climbing Annapurna, one of the most dangerous mountains in the world. The press calls their mother “selfish” and “heartless” to tackle such a notorious peak when she has two young children at home, accusations rarely made at male climbers who have families.
Theo and Nancy’s home life without their mother is initially hard. They sit in front of a “timid” fire with their father in a house empty and yet loud with grief. But when they are a little older, the two children are drawn to a climbing wall centre near their town in Derbyshire. Climbing must be in their blood, as they are good at it.
However, perhaps the teenage Theo has other reasons for going to the wall because he fancies one of the instructors with whom he eventually begins to see in a romantic way. In contrast, Nancy refuses to accept such domesticity and begins to hang out with some serious climbers who roam the hills in the Peak District at the weekends. She really is her mother’s daughter.
The storytelling is as clear as the mountain air, even when the two actors take turns in performing as other people in their narrative; Theo’s boyfriend, a maverick journalist and their father, who they both play astounding well. With the two pillars on stage covered in wood with plastic jugs and crimps, Wells and Gray range the set tirelessly, making sure they are never hidden from parts of the audience for long.
The play’s conclusion may be a little too pat, finding a compromise where one perhaps is not needed nor earned. However, the quality of the acting is such that we climb these mountains with Theo and Nancy; his metaphorical and hers real.
Runs until 4 Aug 2025
