by Andrew Wild

Synopsis

‘The Difficult Crossing’ is a short piece that offers opportunity for two actors to explore a relationship independently, but together. It looks at two perspectives of the same conscious moment: when we fall into the suspended state of sleep. Throughout, ‘Him’ is asleep and is acting out his dreams, and ‘Her’ is awake and is voicing her thoughts.

He goes through flights of fancy as his dreaming self skips between unrelated comic scenes, whilst she is grounded in the realities of real life. It opens with ‘Him’ apparently waking up into a dream-like place where not everything is as it should be. He is initially confused but ‘goes with the flow’ of the events that occur. Meanwhile, ‘Her’ muses on life, and the difficulties she has in communicating directly with ‘Him’.

Celebrities and superficial thoughts are brought to life in his imagination which echo a human need for 'dreams' as a route to happiness. A need to achieve something great is nodded at in his obsession with the famous figures of the past. She however, has more emotional depth and wears her heart on her sleeve as she confesses to herself that she is expecting a child, but cannot find a way to tell him. Their coming together at the end, the first time they interact, brings all the thoughts full circle. There is scope in the production of this piece to add considerable directorial vision.

Duration

Characters