Interview with Adam Sinclair

Best known for his screen roles in Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy, Rizzoli & Isles, 24: Live Another Day and, most recently, the BBC's Gifted, Scottish actor Adam Sinclair returns to the stage this summer in the world premiere of An Echo in the Void at the Edinburgh Fringe. Playing one of four strangers trapped inside an experimental AI programme that recreates lost loved ones, Adam steps into a psychological thriller that explores grief, technology and what it truly means to let go. I caught up with Adam to discuss moving between screen and stage, tackling morally complex stories, and why this timely new play feels closer to reality than ever before.

What first attracted you to An Echo in the Void?

Over the past several years, production has declined in Hollywood and moved into Europe, the UK, and more specifically Scotland. I had been going home more frequently for work. and had noticed on

my visits that the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was becoming a behemoth of new writing and talent, gaining prestige throughout the world. I hadn’t been on a stage in Scotland since 1999 and so had set my sights on performing at the festival.

Having worked with Jason (Jason Weiss, Writer and Director) on a play four years ago, we had remained friends, and on one occasion we discussed a desire to take part in the festival; a return for him. When he told me that he was working on a script for that exact purpose, I saw the serendipitous

moment and immediately offered up my services. Thankfully, it was graciously accepted by him as the writer, director, and brains behind the whole project.

When I read different iterations of the script as he developed it, I saw there was a message and story that was worth presenting, as it was all very relevant to everything that was going on in the digital

world at the time. The subject matter was very zeitgeist.

The talk of how he was planning to cast it, along with his vision for how it could develop beyond the original screenplay, was all very inviting as a storyteller myself. It was the perfect vehicle with which

to return to a stage on home soil.

Your character is one of four strangers trapped inside an AI system. What can you tell us about him?

I play the character of Toby Coleman, a career soldier who has suffered severely from his experiences of war. He has tried every type of therapy, from medical facilities to even the use of street drugs, to

numb the pain of the atrocities he’s experienced through war. Nothing really worked until he found “Sanctuary”. An AI engine that makes it all better. I don’t want to say too much about him, as all is

revealed in the play itself, but Toby is “The Poster Boy” for what “Sanctuary” helps cure.

The play explores grief through artificial intelligence. Why do you think that feels so relevant today?

People see social media as a way of presenting the life they want you to see. Whether that is airing dirty laundry, oversharing emotional turmoil, or merely putting out a false, polished life in pictures

that does not represent their reality. Now, with AI, people are turning to it to think for them, be their therapist, diagnose their illnesses, and even go as far as to use it for companionship. Unfortunately, it only works as an echo chamber, feeding us what we want to believe, based on our search history.

Slowly but surely, that digital world is replacing the real world we live in. It has even hijacked the word ‘Social’. There’s nothing social about staring at a screen for hours at an end for us all to be fed the

same information. Human connection can only be compromised this way. Depression, loneliness, and segregation have never been more prevalent than it is today. The suicide rate is at a ridiculous high

among young people, as it is almost impossible to live up to the demands of the lives that are being presented on social media. We have to analyse this as a society, and I believe this play holds a light up

to that dichotomy. Ironically, we are doing so through the medium of live theatre.

Psychological thrillers can be emotionally demanding. What do you enjoy most about performing in this genre?

Psychological thrillers allow an actor to explore the emotions of an extreme situation without having to live the real dangers. This can be said for all acting. We get to dip our brains into a life we don’t

have to experience the long-term trauma of.

In live theatre, you get to feed off the anticipation, fear, joy, and love of the audience. They are trying to work out what direction the story will take. As actors, we hold the key to those answers, so

therefore hold the audience. We get to paint not only with our lines, but also the emotional journey of the audience. It is truly a shared experience, and if done correctly, the energy flows through a theatre like electricity that is truly exciting for everyone experiencing it. Passively or actively.

How do you prepare for a role that balances emotional vulnerability with suspense?

When working in film and TV, you make most decisions on your own as you prep for your days on set. You arrive with something as polished as much as you can, and hope the director likes it. A small taste of those choices is what they picked you for in your audition process, and so you will hopefully have few notes as you navigate a tight shooting schedule

With theatre, you get to develop a character a lot more collectively through the rehearsal process. You go in with the rest of the cast and simply start on the words, and together with the director, you

forge those words into the voice of who that character is and how he responds to his environment and the characters around him. The objective is to give truth to the writer’s vision. Research is done on various facts like background, home life, and current environment. In this case, a

soldier suffering from PTSD. Luckily, my first feature film that brought me to America from the UK was a prisoner of war film (To End All Wars). I had done extensive research on this movie, spending time

with real POW’s and hearing their stories and the trauma they had experienced. This, along with military drills and training, I was able to have a lot of that in my toolkit as an actor when making the film. I relied quite heavily on that previous research and the real people we were portraying in this

biopic. There was a lot of literature on them and their stories, so I definitely pulled on that for this, at the same time as letting it breathe in the world of this particular script.

What was your first reaction when you read Jason Weiss's script?

I saw there was a message in Jason’s writing that was very relevant to what is going on today within society. It’s an actor’s job to hold a mirror up to life and give the audience a chance to look at themselves. This is what makes a play captivating and relevant, so I knew this was a great concept to take to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The play has evolved over the time that it was in development, and I was lucky to be there for a readthrough in its early iteration. It has only become more condensed and precise, and Jason’s voice has become stronger as it’s been whittled down to the one-act play that it is now. Jason was brave to strip it away into a very precise message with a strong through-line that I believe will resonate with its audience on a transformative level. That absolute essence of everything he was trying to say has

permeated into this play.

The play asks whether technology can ever replace human connection. Where do you stand on that question?

No, Technology will never replace human connection. The exchange of energy. Unfortunately, people are turning more and more to a digital alternative. From online shopping, diagnosis of health, both

mental and physical, all the way through to companionship; we are in a very dangerous time where the next generation barely even understands social structure and therefore loses empathy and understanding of the human condition. Digital interaction is like fast food. Cheap and oddly satisfying,

but at what ends. COVID prepped us for separation being a norm, and I don’t think the world has ever returned to what it was. Shopping, concerts, discussions with peers, and even dating now all exist in

a digital realm.

The technology isn’t going anywhere. It is only going to advance, but I believe it will become like religion and politics, where the good bits are cherry-picked for the support of one’s beliefs, and a blind eye will be turned to the harm that both can cause. People will separate into different gradients of that uptake, and it will start to divide society as opposed to bringing it together. We can already see it being used deviously in today’s political forums around the world.

Having worked extensively in film and television, what keeps drawing you back to live theatre?

I used to have my own theatre company in London called Jockney Productions and was lucky enough to win the Time Out Critics’ Choice award back in 1999 for a play called Disintegration, but hadn’t been

on a stage for 25 years until I met Jason four years ago and decided to jump back onto a stage to see if I could still do it. Opening night was a terrifying experience as I flicked through my script on the side

of the stage in anticipation of failing. When on stage in front of the audience, the lights came up, and instantly I remembered why I decided to become an actor at the age of 14. I knew I was home. I became the artist again. That feeling of being so present in a moment is what we are trying to achieve

in our everyday lives. The theatre gives you that every night you step onto the stage. It’s very easy to get caught up in the business of film and TV, where the art form is run by lawyers looking at the bottom line. You become a product of that, manufacturing every nuance of the process

to meet the requirements of what is expected to help produce the biggest profit. So, we end up making $350mm movies that no one really wants to see. When the more creative side is taken in independent filmmaking, the projects are often swallowed into the plethora of streaming sites, and never really have the chance to share a more artistic vision or appeal to the shared experience that cinema used to achieve.

On stage, an actor can’t hide behind the magic of editing or the tools that are developed to sell performance; that can’t be achieved in a live situation.

What has it been like working with Jason Weiss as both writer and director?

This is my second round with Jason. I signed up again for a reason. His theatrical knowledge is second to none, and even his achievements as an actor make him an impassioned and very sympathetic

director to work with, in terms of what is needed to achieve a truly grounded and real performance.

He lets the characters exist.

The creative process with him is truly a collaboration. He allows me to explore freely, then reins me in to the performance I only hoped to achieve. I will continually work with Jason whenever he sounds the alarm to come to arms.

Without giving too much away, what has been the biggest challenge in bringing this production to life?

It has been an absolute joy bringing this production to life. The biggest challenge will be performing every day for a month, straight. I am profoundly looking forward to finding the depths of this character

as he evolves throughout the run. Every night will be a new journey for myself as I explore the levels of my character and the play itself. Not much will change for the audience other than the presentation

becoming truly grounded in a reality. This is the art.

Edinburgh Fringe audiences are known for embracing ambitious new work. Why do you think this show will connect with them?

Everybody is there to see theatre, and as I had previously said, this play has a very strong message.

This is a brand-new piece of writing from Jason, and it’s strong. The venue is a great hosting point for presenting this to the world. I think it will become one of the go-to plays of the festival, as it will deliver a question that all will have to answer for themselves. It will open debate.

What do you hope audiences are still thinking about after they've left the theatre?

Audiences will leave the theatre trying to put together the allegories that the play is portraying. They will recognize tropes from their own everyday existence and even find something of themselves and recognize others within the characters. The play operates on so many levels that hopefully it sparks questions for themselves about how they are going to move forward in this rapidly evolving digital world they are now living a large percentage of their lives in. I hope it makes them question their own

existence. I know it has done that for me.

A huge thank you to Adam for taking the time to speak with me about An Echo in the Void. The world premiere runs at Assembly Roxy – Upstairs as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 5th–29th August (excluding 19th August) at 4:40pm. To find out more and book your tickets, just click this link: https://assemblyfestival.com/whats-on/an-echo-in-the-void