North North North (tour – Peterborough, Key Theatre Studio)

Three actors –
Martin Bonger, Margit Szlavik and Elisabet Topp – take us
through the story from the bright enthusiasm of its start (this
was cutting-edge technology for its time) to the sad conclusion,
stranded on the White Island with the crashed balloon abandoned,
stores lost to ice-flow vagaries and the fatal onset of winter.
Director Alex Byrne has a sure hand with his material.

Bicat and Rigby are the
designers. Projections onto drapes of white fabric, a couple of tall
ladders and a plethora of props furnish the scene. Accordions, a
double-bass and a guitar are taken up by the cast as accompaniment to
and commentary on the story as it unfolds. All three actors draw us
into the action; we know that the end will not be a happy one but
somehow we want history to rewrite itself. Of course, it never does.