#EdFringe: The Voices We Hear – Review

★★ 1/2

At the end of the world (it feels it after the walk off the Mile down to Dynamic Earth), a girl sits alone listening to the radio, listening for signs of life. In her despair and loneliness, she swallows a bottle of pills… and the radio comes to life. Has she imagined it? Is it real? Is there someone out there?

I kept waiting for a twist but none came. She’s real- Alex and Bea, a gamer and a gardener meet over crackling radios and examine what do you finally talk about and ask when you finally find someone to talk to.

As the country got warmer and food supplies got shorter, something happened to the people - but we don’t know what – are they zombies? Are they dead? Apparently they’re ‘not friendly’.  How long ago was this incident? How on earth it either walkie talkie still charged/ have battery?  

The intimate setting of the zero waste venue The Greenhouse lends a lot to the storyline of a post-apocalpytic style world, as it is without lighting, it’s a bit cold, it’s literally a shack. It’s what you’d imagine sheltering in after a world altering event would happen.  

Molly Williams and Georgina Savage give passionate portrayals as the two woman left and finding each other, but the dimly lit space relies on a more aural experience, and there’s almost no other sounds aside from the talking, the weird singing (they bond over trying to work out what song has been in their heads for  the last few years), and one outside banging noise.

The show has huge potential, both in other settings and in the outdoor pop up space, but the underdeveloped story line means that the dialogue isn’t engaging enough to cover the holes in the story line. It would be worth the show being a little bit longer in order to fully flesh out the story in the future.

The Voices We Hear by Boxed in Theatre is on at the Pleasance Pop Up Greenhouse at Dynamic Earth until 26th August. More info.