The Place Between Waking and Sleeping @ The Roxy

The word ‘amateur’ is a word which is often associated with negative definitions or subtexts; from lack of profession, to lack of skill; and because of this, it is a word that has really bugged me.

What people often forget is that it derives from the Latin verb ‘amo,’ meaning ‘to love’ and also very ideally refers to ‘one who performs for pleasure.’  Lovers of their art, Strange Town Young Company’s Duncan Kidd and Hannah Scott are clearly examples’ of the latter.

Possessing an acting talent far and above their age, Kidd and Scott’s joint passions for what they do bounce from the stage right into the audience, and you immediately feel part of their picture.

Waking from a deep sleep to the sound of his door pounding, Ed gets up to let his lodger, Violet, terrorised by a nightmare, into his room, and the tale begins. Ed, shy, but in control, chooses to live in the ‘nice’ version of the world whereas Violet, passionate, outgoing, head-strong and fiercely protective of her opinion, favours the tabloid style – where events verging on ‘ridiculous’ can be true.

Polar opposites, Ed’s doubts are Violet’s realities, and as their opinions differ, sparks fly from the word go. Where belief fights disbelief, The Place Between Sleeping and Waking, is a dark and humorous story of opposites: opposite lives and opposite beginnings; but two lives that are joined in that moment between dusk and dawn where childhood innocence reappears. In a vulnerable state, with the realities of the day taken away, the areas of life that you’d normally sidestep are pondered, from fears to childhood memories.

Set right in the lonely middle-ground between sleeping and waking, the play looks at realness and trust, and shows how the power of the imagination, and opinion, can affect your life - and how easily one’s innate beliefs’ can be thrown into doubt in seconds.

As the production looks at the power of dreams and how your own mind can inadvertently ‘work against you,’ it encourages you to look at how your personal ‘take’ on life can have a massive impact on how you ‘see’ the future and like its characters, you also begin to wonder what is real, and whom to trust.

Rising above the word ‘amateur’s’ disparaging and condescending meanings, the cast’s performance seems to stand out even further, as their commitment, strength, passion and youthfulness go far and beyond what the word supposes. They are skilled professionals in their own right.