Review of 'Further Than The Furthest Thing'

Wednesday, 28 October, 2015
Emile Joubert
A review of the drama in two acts, Further Than The Furthest Thing, currently showing at The Playhouse theatre.

Further than the Furthest Thing, by Zinnie Harris. With Lee-Ann Murray, Bobby Bennett, CJ Opperman, Deon Fourie and Sonette Swanepoel.
Directed by: Norman McFarlane. In The Playhouse, Somerset West.
A production of the Hottentots Holland Dramatic Society.

Pouring wine at The Playhouse in Somerset West ahead of this amateur drama production, I saw a picture of a desolate island in the South Atlantic Ocean and thought of my previous Tristan da Cunha vinous moment. It was when a fishing boat had returned to Table Bay from Tristan, laden with tons of the crayfish found in the icy seas around the islands.

The skipper, an old friend, invited me aboard and in the mess lay a feast Babette would have been aghast at: a table stacked with massive crayfish, each one steamed to a crimson beauty. And in between the setting, bowls of thick yellow mayonnaise the colour of farm custard. You have not eaten crayfish until you have had the indigenous Tristan species, and smeared with the mayonnaise made from the yolks of penguin eggs, it is the stuff angels would give up their wings and smash their harps for.

On board, said skipper also kept a wine stash to accompany him to through the lonely nights’ fishing. A De Wetshof Bateleur 2001 was opened, and by now the angels were stripping off their white smocks and getting tattooed.

Since then I have always had a fascination with Tristan da Cunha, especially after the ship’s crew told me about the weird insular society of people of Cosmopolitan descent who dared live on this island, some say the most desolate place on earth.

So after pouring the Du Toitskloof wine to theatre-goers warming up for the production of Furthest from the Furthest Thing, set on Tristan, I decided to hang around for the show. My mate Norman McFarlane is the director, an added impetus.

Suffice to say that by approaching a challenging piece of theatre such as this drama by Scots playwright Zinnie Morris, the members of the Hottentots Holland Dramatic Society show they are not in it purely for a casual bit of amateur play-acting and self-deprecating hamming in odd costumes, as a way of having theatrical fun outside their real lives. Not here. Not now. Furthest from the Furthest Thing is far removed from the shits-and-giggles associated with the bulk of amateur productions. This is demanding work, requiring cast and director to extend themselves beyond any comfort zone they thought they had, or thought they knew.

And this goes for the audience, too.

The scene is set on Tristan da Cunha in 1961, where a five-some of fictional characters are placed under various dramatic circumstances in the – real – shadow of the volcanic eruption the island experienced and which saw the entire population evacuated to Southampton.

Mill and Bill Lavarello are simple potato farmers looking after Mill’s nephew Francis Swain who has just returned from a period of seeing the outside world, namely Cape Town. Following him back to Tristan is one Mr Hansen, a South African businessman who wishes to introduce commercialism to the island in the form of the export of preserved crayfish.

Hansen plays sly games with the folk he deems “simple”, while the sycophantic Francis attempts to convince his Aunt and Uncle that there is a life away from tending potato patches and breaking penguin eggs in the godforsaken place they inhabit.

Emotions are deep and raw with themes of belonging, physical and mental isolation and the inability to embrace any sense of self-worth, coming to the fore.

To add to this, Francis finds his lost love, Rebecca. Her character’s similarity to a mythological red-haired siren, which she is obviously supposed to represent, is disfigured by the fact that upon rekindling their friendship, Francis finds Rebecca is heavily pregnant having involuntarily provided some passing sailors with a bit of carnal recreation.

This adds to Francis’s woes, who really is an extremely wounded fellow, wonderfully played by CJ Opperman. As the volcano begins to erupt, so too do emotions and action, ending in a tragedy which disturbs on various fronts.

The second half begins after the volcano has erupted and the cast are now in Southampton, having been evacuated along with the other Tristan da Cunha inhabitants.

Mill, finely played by Lee-Ann Murray, now becomes the voice of the action. She represents the community’s inability to be removed from the physical and social borders of Tristan, no matter how pathetic and inhospitable these are seen. Mr Hansen (Deon Fourie) continues his deceit by telling the folk their island has been totally destroyed, a fact causing senses of loss and confusion, differently interpreted by the characters.

Here Mill really is a superb character, unassumingly meek and simple from the outset, she grows into the voice of reason, determination and with a never-say-die attitude in her goal of reconnecting that umbilical cord to “home” which had been ripped apart.

All five actors do a great job in both the technical requirements as well as expressing their own emotions and feelings into a story that, like it does to the audience, does not leave the players untouched.

As Bill Lavarello, Bobby Bennet is totally believable as a simpleton living between the harsh valleys of despair and responsibility to Mill and Francis. Hansen is cool and gruff with a brooding sleaziness which never ends in caricature. And as Rebecca, Sonette Swanepoel brings an exotic and beautiful presence onstage, although it is apparent that she also hauls more than one handbag-full of mystery and danger.

The action is kept constant by swift direction and the snappy interchanging of scenes, making each bite of dialogue and playing, a chunk of food for thought. Tough to swallow at times, but like the crayfish, impossible to forget.

Bookings: Computicket

Ticket price: R100

Beneficiary charity: Friends of the Helderberg Nature Reserve

Date/Times: October 28,29, 30 at 8pm.

Where: The Playhouse Theatre, Lourensford Road, Somerset West

Wine tasting: a complimentary wine tasting will be presented each evening, from 7pm to 8pm, as follows:
October 28 - Waterkloof Wine Estate, October 29 - Eikendal Estate, October 30 - Morgenster Estate.

Call Norman McFarlane 0n 0825540707 for further details.

 

 

 

 

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Mill Lavarello (Lee-Ann Murray) lays down the law to her husband (Bobby Bennett)
Mill Lavarello (Lee-Ann Murray) lays down the law to her husband (Bobby Bennett)

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