Sunday 18 May

7pm

£10 (£8 conc)

This new drama from a multiple award winning team charts the incredible journey of two of the world’s most revered and remembered explorers. Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott were very different heroes from a time when the world had just one remaining unknown to be conquered.  They reveal the worst and best in themselves, their men and each other as they race for the South Pole.

‘The use of the eloquent words of the explorers themselves gives this engaging production real gravitas.’ **** Metro

Calhoun’s adaptation, skilfully crafted from Scott and Amundsen’s expedition diaries, interweaves the two men’s separate but concurrent journeys into a comparative account, told in their own words.  As the two actors reveal the hardships, privations, practicalities and triumphs the explorers experienced, we are transported to an alien landscape as unimaginably hostile as it is awe-inspiring.

‘Anyone who has loved stories such as Touching the Void will find these two accounts wonderfully compelling.’ **** The Scotsman

This dramatic adaptation of the diaries uses the actual words written by the competing explorers between 1910 and 1912, powerfully retold by two actors.  The play starts with preparations for the journey and ends in victory for just one team. But could the other cope with being ‘the last south’?

‘There is much humour, but it is their accounts of the return journeys that are the most poignant.’ **** Evening Standard

David Burt plays Captain Robert Falcon Scott. He has played many RSC, National and West End roles in plays and musicals, and was a member of the original West End cast of Les Misérables.

Christian Olliver plays Roald Amundsen. His stage credits include The 39 Steps in the West End, Loyalties at the Finborough and Iago in Othello at Broadway Theatre.

Writer G.M. Calhoun has portrayed over 200 characters as a professional actor in the USA and has directed

more than 60 shows. He now writes full-time; other work includes Roland, Coupled, and Starting Line.

Director Rob Mulholland has directed four consecutive Edinburgh Fringe First Award-winning productions,

three of which transferred to London’s West End. He has also directed extensively in the USA.

Reviews

The Guardian

Edinburgh Theatre

The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole ×××

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

Lyn Gardner

Monday August 13, 2007

Guardian Unlimited

"History has no memory of second places," wrote the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen as he set out on his race to reach the South Pole first. How wrong he was. In Britain at least, Amundsen's achievement has been relegated to a dusty historical footnote, while the heroic failure of his rival, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, who perished along with his remaining party just 11 miles from safety, is known to every schoolchild.

Adapted by GM Calhoun from the two explorers' expedition journals, this a potentially thrilling account of heroism and stiff upper lips. By cleverly juxtaposing the two diaries, the drama also offers an insight not just into the minds of very different men, but also the ways in which they organised their expeditions - one leading to success, the other to oblivion. As Scott comments ruefully when disaster looms, his expedition took eight years to plan and he accounted for everything "except bad planning". The sprightliness of Amundsen's dogs contrasts sharply with Scott's decision to use ponies; Scott's men become like sturdy pit ponies themselves - stout of heart, but trudging blindly towards their doom.

The intercutting of the diaries provides a natural dramatic irony, as the differing fortunes of the two parties become increasingly apparent. The piece is beautifully played by Adrian Lukis as Scott, a man who feels he has let everyone down, and Jamie Lee as the phlegmatic Amundsen. If only this had been staged with more imagination and visual flair (and without the awkward device of half-reading from the diaries, which simply makes it look as if the actors haven't bothered to learn their lines), then it would have worked as theatre and not just as an engrossing history lesson. Even in its current form, the poignancy of Amundsen and his team eating chocolate pudding while Scott and his starve is almost unbearable.

· Until August 27. Box office: 0131 556 6550.

The Scotsman

Tue 14 Aug 2007

Adrian Lukis and Jamie Lee portray arctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen Picture: Geraint Lewis

The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole ****

SALLY J STOTT

PLEASANCE COURTYARD (VENUE 33)

THIS compelling play charts the journeys of the original Arctic explorers, Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. Through extracts from their diaries and letters, we follow them as they battle to beat one another and lead the first successful expedition to the South Pole.

It's a simple idea, in which GM Calhorn cleverly compares and contrasts the explorers' different ideas, decisions and personalities by juxtaposing both accounts of the same trip.

It's an experience that offers much more than simply reading their diaries independently. As both Scott (Adrian Lukis) and Amundsen (Jamie Lee) make their preparations for the arduous task ahead we get a sense of their differing personalities.

Scott, with the confidence and reserve of the pre-war British upper classes, contrasts brilliantly with Amundsen, a fiery rough-and-ready Norwegian. Ultimately, only one man can succeed and, for the other, there is no return from "a blank wall of white on every side".

Lukis and Lee are brilliant as the iconic explorers, capturing both the bravery, humour, heroism and arrogance of their characters. Lukis, in particular, is very strong, beautifully epitomising the dejected yet courageous spirit of the beaten Scott, as he tackles the long and ultimately fatal journey home.

As Scott's body is devoured by frostbite, his demise is sad and slow, but very dignified. As he says, he's "planned for everything except bad planning". This is beautifully contrasted with Amundsen's rise to success as he gets faster and stronger and enjoys "masses of biscuits".

Anyone who has loved stories such as Touching the Void will find these two accounts of human endurance against the extremes of nature wonderfully compelling. They're both great tales, and hearing them together provides a compelling insight into two very different men.

The decision to give the actors scripts disguised as diaries is a little odd. While Lukis and Lee generally manage to transcend the restrictions caused by this, it would be great to see this show "off book" - something that would help to turn an inherently dramatic real-life story into a true theatrical experience.

• Until 27 August. Today 1.10pm

The Independent

The Last South: Pursuit Of The Pole, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh 

By Lynne Walker

Published: 15 August 2007

You don't have to wrap up warm for this race across snowy wastes, but G M Calhoun's vivid account of the conquest of the South Pole is chilling, even so.

Drawing from the diaries and documents of Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen, Calhoun blends perceptiveness and authority in his subtle interweaving of two tales. Adrian Lukis as Scott exudes the qualities of a gentleman: on the plus side, moral fibre, sportsmanship, endurance; on the minus side, amateurism. As he says, ruefully: "I planned for everything except bad planning."

Amundsen, on the other hand, is the wily scientist who not only keeps his plans close to his chest but also chooses a shorter route and is blessed with better weather. Jamie Lee captures the Norwegian's mental and physical indomitability, and pulls off a credible accent.

Each character narrates his preparations and his party's progress. After the thrill of Amundsen's raising of the flag on the Pole, and his party's exultant return to base camp, the disappointment of Scott's party is the more excruciating : exhaustion and disease prevail on their 800-mile return journey, in deadly cold and constant darkness. "History has no memory of second places," muses Scott. He was wrong, of course, but he hadn't planned for the place in history he was to achieve.

To 27 August, not today (0131-556 6550)

The List

The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole ××××

Publication: The List (Issue 582)

Date: 9 August 2007

Written by: Miles Johnson

Aiming High

Between 1910 and 1912 two competing teams, one British one Norwegian, set out to become the first men to reach the South Pole. Only one managed to return home to tell the tale. Constructed from the diaries kept by the British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his Norwegian counterpart Roald Amundsen, this play documents the motions of elation and despair the two men endure as they battle through the elements, always aware that the other could be only a few miles in front or behind.

The same lust for conquest may be driving the ambitions of the two men but here they are presented as raging opposites. Scott (Adrian Lukis), is bookish and meticulous, listing his inventory and boasting of his lectures as he writes in his diary. In the final stages before the start of an expedition that took more than six years of planning and research, he reveals his disdain for his younger, brasher rival, clearly worried despite his arrogance that Amundsen’s youth and vigour might present an obstacle to his triumph that his wisdom cannot overcome.

Having received a staggering four consecutive Fringe First awards in a row back in the late 1980s director Rob Mulholand will certainly be subject to high expectations with his first return to the Fringe in over 15 years. Yet while many years may have passed his skill has certainly not diminished during his prolonged Edinburgh hiatus. The play, adapted by the American playwright GM Calhoun, is an agile work, excellently acted by its leads that through delicate pacing draws the audience into their world of frost bite, dead huskies and the unimaginable bleakness of being thousands of miles away from home trekking through the most inhospitable environment on earth.

Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 27 Aug (not 8, 15), 1.10pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9).

Metro

The Last South: Pursuit Of The Pole ××××

THEATRE

By JOHN HOLMES - Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Adapted from the two explorers' diary entries, Festival Highlight's The Last South: Pursuit Of The Pole recalls the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, as Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott raced to be the first man to the South Pole.

The acting is first rate. As Scott, Adrian Lukis evokes the stiff upper-lip mentality of the British expedition, while Jamie Lee brings a cheeky confidence to his younger Norwegian rival.

The two never address each other directly, yet the monologues are arranged to illustrate Amundsen and Scott's contrasting fortunes at each stage in their voyage.

The use of the eloquent words of the explorers themselves gives this engaging production real gravitas.

Until Aug 27 (not today or 15), Pleasance Cavern, Pleasance Courtyard (V33), 1.10 pm. www.festivalhighlights.com

The Evening Standard

The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole: The race for the pole takes centre stage

Evening Standard rating ××××

Veronica Lee, Evening Standard 23.08.07   

Edwardian gentleman or not, the Briton was every bit as determined as the Norwegian to plant the flag at the South Pole

In 1910, Robert Falcon Scott began an expedition to Antarctica. Norway's Roald Amundsen started his at the same time, chose a different route and became the first man to reach the South Pole, one month before Scott.

Defeated and demoralised, and in bitter weather, the British team succumbed to frostbite, weakness and eventual death on their return journey.

Using the men's diaries and letters, GM Calhorn interweaves the two recollections of events and neatly contrasts gentleman explorer Scott (Adrian Lukis) with driven professional Amundsen (Jamie Lee). Both were talented diarists - Amundsen drily amusing, Scott wryly self-deprecating - but, Edwardian gentleman or not, the Briton was every bit as determined as the Norwegian to plant the flag.

There is much humour in learning just how soppy both men were about their dogs and packhorses, but it is their accounts of the return journeys that are the most poignant.

Amundsen talks gaily about the surfeit of food as he and his team race back to acclaim, while Scott's words are of regret, admitting he had "planned for everything except bad planning".

There is minimal interaction between the men, but that serves only to make the words and performances even more compelling.

• To 27 Aug (0131 556 6550; www.pleasance.co.uk)

The Stage

Review by Thom Dibdin. Published Friday 10 August 2007

The Last South - Pursuit of the Pole

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

G M Calhoun creates a vivid picture of Amundsen and Scott’s epic race to the South Pole in 1911 by finessing together the journals they kept.

Crucially, in this unofficial race in which neither contestant could see the other, the extracts are set side by side in terms of distance travelled and not by strict chronology.

It makes for a thrilling picture, both of the two adventurers and of the trials and triumphs of their trips. Including Amundsen’s joy at achieving the pole first - and Scott’s slow acknowledgement of his party’s final catastrophe and the suppressed terror of knowing he is about to die.

Jamie Lee and Adrian Lukis both bring the force of the two personalities to their reading of the texts. Lee’s Amundsen is arrogant and determined, quite aware he is the underdog, while Lukis’ Scott is permeated with the stoic British idealism that epitomises the end of Empire.

If only director Rob Mulholland had insisted his actors learned their lines, instead of reading the texts, this might be very good indeed. Caught between off-the-book performance and rehearsed reading, there are too many misread lines and hesitant entrances too allow the script’s full potential to shine. Very poor.

Skinny Fest

Theatre: The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole ××××

Pleasance Courtyard (map)

Aug 01-07, 09-14, 16-27 13:10 (1:10)

£5.00 to £10.00

Sunday 05 August by Junta Sekimori

The gallantry inherent in both the original memoirs transfers smoothly to the stage with the help of two accomplished actors who generously inject their own charisma into the already estimable personalities

Adapted from the journals of two legendary men who competed over the world’s last unknown, G.M.Calhoun’s The Last South is a hymn to the fortitude of human will. In 1912, Antarctic explorers Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott raced for the South Pole, each propelled by a fiery determination to show their fellow men at home what they were capable of.

In this play both of the men are winners. The gallantry inherent in both the original memoirs transfers smoothly to the stage with the help of two accomplished actors who generously inject their own charisma into the already estimable personalities. In even turns they recount their perilous journeys, musing about polar sunsets, chocolate soup, and their beloved draft dogs that perish in the jaws of the ravenous cold. Calhoun's fusion of the two texts is organic and synergic. The intertwining of the two accounts transforms the play into something greater than a public reading, promoting the overarching sense of competition between the two.

Unfortunately the performance is marred by by a lack of prepation by the actors, who carry their scripts on stage in the guise of characters' journals. This may have been a first-night hiccup, and hopefully it has since been corrected.

Onstagescotland

The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole

Festival Highlights

When I was a young lad and Captain Scott was considered a great British hero I could never understand why we celebrated the man who didn't get to the South Pole first yet heard nothing about Amundsen, the man who did.

It seemed to me that we celebrated the gallant amateur for losing and ignored the foreigner who had the temerity to plan, practice, make the right decisions and take the shortest route.

All of this is confirmed by G. M. Calhoun's new piece (it's not quite a play), but it did also make me have a slight shift of attitude. Scott and Amundsen sit in front of us, bathed in a chill blue Antarctic light, reading from their respective journals.

To get the negative out of the way first, these were clearly their scripts. No matter how much writing they pretended to do, it did look as though the actors were not on top of their lines. Since the publicity clearly states that they do read from the journals, surely it would have been better to have provided period-style books. That quibble aside, this is a powerful two-hander that brings into sharp focus the difference in preparation and results of the two expeditions.

Adrian Lukis has exactly the right unblinking, officer-class viewpoint as Scott; the attitude that knew he and only he had to make all the decisions. For much of the time this gives Scott an air of arrogance and makes him a difficult man to warm to. What made him so remarkable and gives him his lasting fame is the quality of his writing. As the end approaches the journals do show a genuine heroism in defeat. I hadn't realised that he had actually admitted in them that his preparations were wrong - this made me respect the man as I hadn't for years.

Jamie Lee is superb as Amundsen. Here is a man with a relish for polar exploration and the ability to lead his men by involving them and by allowing a relaxed attitude among them, even in the direst of circumstances. The most moving passages are those that show the very different return journeys; Scott's all trudge, bad weather, injury and death, Amundsen's all brisk forward movement, constant progress, plentiful supplies and even sunshine.

I'm glad I now know the story of the first man to get to the South Pole, and that I've become somewhat more understanding of the second to reach it.

Victor Hallett

One4Review

Fringe Theatre 2007

The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole ××××

Nobody remembers who comes second. However, in the case of Sir Robert Falcon Scott his failure to defeat Amundsen to the South Pole, and his death and those of his team is celebrated as the utmost epic failure. So much so, we all know the expression ‘Scott of Antarctica’.

G.M. Calhoun’s powerful drama is a cleverly conceived and executed portrayal of Amundsen (Jamie Lee) and Scott (Adrian Lukis) in their quest to reach the South Pole. Interweaving their diary accounts, we can follow as a continuous story their fervour, their optimism at the outset of the journey and the contrast between Amundsen’s elation and Scott’s utter disappointment. Rob Mulholloand’s direction is tight and clear.

The story is at its most compelling in the recounting of the return journey. Amundsen’s relative ease set against Scott’s desperation – “Eight years of planning prepared me for everything except bad planning”. 

A convincing theatrical experience.

Three Weeks

The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole

Festival Highlights

Long before threatening a liquid collapse at the hands of global warming, the South Pole represented a solid space for the projection of Western fantasies. This proto-typical tale of competitive masculinity, reconstructs Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott's 1912 race to claim the pole; adapting material from expedition diaries and creatively fusing this with fiction. G M Calhoun's script is enhanced by emblematic staging, intelligent use of light and accomplished acting. Unfortunately, as a play of two halves - in a manner apt for journeymen - 'The Last South' is slightly too long; and just as Scott and Amundsen's spirits progressively dwindle, so do those of the audience, whose attention - while initially fixed - slowly begins to evaporate.

Pleasance Courtyard, 21 - 27 Aug (not 8 or 15), 1:10pm (2:20pm), prices vary, fpp 202.

tw rating: 3/5

published: Aug-2007

[Hazel  Smith]

Edinburgh Guide

The Last South: Pursuit of the Pole ×××××

27 August, 2007 - 09:31 — Lorraine McCann

Venue:Pleasance Courtyard

Company:Festival Highlights

Running time:70mins

Production:Rob Mulholland (director), G.M. Calhoun (writer)

Performers:Jamie Lee, Adrian Lukis

Sometimes theatre just gets everything right – a superb cast, clear design, and storytelling so utterly absorbing that it just hoists you right out of your usual reality and fills your imagination with something extraordinary.

You could, of course, argue that’s it like shooting fish in a barrel, making theatre out of something as inherently dramatic as the race to the South Pole. But that would be missing the point, for there are plenty of shows based on real-life events that fail to engage, fail to move, even though they ought to compel and fascinate. No, what “The Last South” achieves is a truly mesmeric experience, based on little more than two men, some journals and a couple of folding chairs.

The Englishman Robert Falcon Scott and the Norwegian Roald Amundsen could hardly be more different. Scott (Adrian Lukis) comes across as an excessively noble, ludicrously optimistic gentleman, endlessly banging on about the sheer excellence of his team’s character, and in fact refusing to see their endeavour as a ‘race’ at all. Amundsen (Jamie Lee), on the other hand, is quite up-front about wanting to beat Scott to the Pole, and comes across as an attractively laid-back figure, who is nevertheless extremely focused on winning. It’s an intriguing battle, then, as the men take turns to reveal the hopes, privations and mental torment that made up the lot of these early twentieth-century explorers.

With a taut, incisive script by G.M. Calhoun, based entirely on authentic journals kept at the time, “The Last South” uses stark design and the simplest of techniques to create a shining, deeply engrossing theatrical experience.