Franklin by
The play charts the course of the ill-fated Franklin expedition from their departure from England in 1845 to the rediscovery of one of their lost ships in 2014. What began as an attempt to find the Northwest Passage ended as a disaster that claimed the lives of 129 men including Captain Sir John Franklin. But how these men actually died and what they experienced in those final days trapped in the ice remains a...
The play charts the course of the ill-fated Franklin expedition from their departure from England in 1845 to the rediscovery of one of their lost ships in 2014. What began as an attempt to find the Northwest Passage ended as a disaster that claimed the lives of 129 men including Captain Sir John Franklin. But how these men actually died and what they experienced in those final days trapped in the ice remains a mystery. Early letters home offer tantalizing hints to who these men were when they left England, and Inuit myths shed a frightening light on what they might have become by the time they died. Were they driven mad by lead poisoning, contracted from the canned goods that were supposed to sustain them? Did isolation and terror break them long before lead poisoning could, as their projected one year stretched into three with no sign of escape? When the inevitable madness came, how did the crew survive as their shipmates became monsters? And most importantly, when the madness closed in on them, did they have any hope?
Hope is what holds together the lives of the four crew members whose lives we follow throughout the play as they struggle through increasing chaos to survive. As their expedition collapses around them, they cling to the last hope of rescue and the possibility of escape. Hope also drives the modern explorers who seek those lost sailors in the present. The play juxtaposes the story of the Franklin Expedition with that of a passionate young researcher determined to find the final resting place of its ships. On the last of her grant money, she faces her own struggle on the ice to track down the ships before she loses her chance forever. The members of her crew are rapidly losing faith, and her only female companion, a young musician, seems to be a money-grubbing detriment. But each woman might hold the key the other needs to discover the truth.
Weaving together the loss of these two ships and the quest to rediscover them, the play explores the human longing for adventure and the consequences of that longing. It tests the limits of what people will do to achieve their passions, and the combination of bravery and hubris it takes to truly achieve something truly great.
Hope is what holds together the lives of the four crew members whose lives we follow throughout the play as they struggle through increasing chaos to survive. As their expedition collapses around them, they cling to the last hope of rescue and the possibility of escape. Hope also drives the modern explorers who seek those lost sailors in the present. The play juxtaposes the story of the Franklin Expedition with that of a passionate young researcher determined to find the final resting place of its ships. On the last of her grant money, she faces her own struggle on the ice to track down the ships before she loses her chance forever. The members of her crew are rapidly losing faith, and her only female companion, a young musician, seems to be a money-grubbing detriment. But each woman might hold the key the other needs to discover the truth.
Weaving together the loss of these two ships and the quest to rediscover them, the play explores the human longing for adventure and the consequences of that longing. It tests the limits of what people will do to achieve their passions, and the combination of bravery and hubris it takes to truly achieve something truly great.