Fram

Fram at National Theatre, Olivier

Why see Fram?

This epic sweep of a play takes us from a contemporary Westminster Abbey to the Arctic ship Fram – or Forward – specially built by the famous Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen who, with his suicidal companion, Johansen, makes a bid on foot for the North Pole in the 1890s.

Though incompatible, they share a bear fur sleeping-bag through the long winter. Nansen, still haunted by Johansen’s ghost, is appointed to the League of Nations. As a figurehead of Russian famine relief in 1922, he conducts the first celebrity campaign, searching for means, however shocking, to make people care.

A major new work by Britain’s foremost theatre poet, Tony Harrison, whose many plays for the NT include The Oresteia and The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus. His long poem v. caused a celebrated national controversy.

Cast

Mark Addy as Hjalmar Johansen
Jasper Britton as Fridtjof Nansen
Jim Creighton as ARA Man A
Patrick Drury as Sheldon
Viviana Durante as Ballerina
Steven Helliwell as ARA Man B
Aykut Hilmi as Poet
Clare Lawrence as Ruth Fry
Carolyn Pickles as Eglantyne Jebb
Jeff Rawle as Gilbert Murray
Sian Thomas as Sybil Thorndike
Joseph Thompson as ARA Man C

Creative

Directed by Tony Harrison & Bob Crowley
Set Design by Bob Crowley
Costume Design by Fotini Dimou
Lighting Design by Mark Henderson
Music by Richard Blackford
Choreography by Wayne McGregor
Video Design by Jon Driscoll
Sound Design by Gareth Fry

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