Theater Review:

Don’t Even Think Of Missing

'Tom Crean, Adventurer'

is the current offering at Northern Stage in White River Junction, and what a show it is!

It's hard to know where to begin a review of this amazingly rich and textured one-man production, except to note right off that this is a don't-miss performance, a happening, a magical moment in theater.

Aidan Dooley, the actor, is fresh from his fourth tour of Ireland with this same show, where he sold out performances for two weeks in Cork, and garnered a Best Actor nomination at the Dublin Festival. In 2003, this same show won him the Best Solo Performance Award at the New York International Fringe Festival.

The play traces the story of Tom Crean, a member of the Royal Navy who joined three separate expeditions to trek to the South Pole, the only person to be part of all three adventures. He served under Captain Robert Scott on two of those missions, and Robert Shackleton on the other.

He explains his failure to achieve fame and fortune quite simply. . . he didn't keep a journal. "I had better things to do at -30 degrees Celsius than write a flamin' diary!" he says in his rich Irish brogue.

And if there's an adventure to be had on such a journey, Tom had it, facing blinding snowstorms, crushing sea ice, a shipwreck, and a hurricane. And although Tom never makes it to the South Pole, he does get to within 145 miles of it.

To put that in proper perspective, this means he dragged an 800-pound sled with three other men a total of more than 1800 miles over treacherous ice and up a 4000-foot mountain.

Part of the show's attraction is the life that Aidan brings to a very small physical area on stage. He confines his work to a space not much larger than a restaurant booth, or perhaps a tent pitched on an ice floe. But the lack of movement works to rivet your attention on the stories he tells, beginning with his thorough explanation of Antarctic dress, made all the more realistic as he dresses right in front of the audience. His work is punctuated with myriad facial expressions and a smile like a sea otter.

Mr. Dooley must have kissed the blarney stone, because his gift of gab is facile and colorful. The presentation is personal and peppered with humor, and you are drawn into his world so completely that you find yourself vocally responding to his questions and comments. He has a sense of timing, a puckish smile, and a simple honesty that are captivating, Yet, you are continually reminded that you are listening to the stories of a man who watched his comrades freeze to death, who helped shoot and eat the company's dogs when food ran low, and who beat death by hiking 40 miles without pause, carrying only a few biscuits and two chocolate bars.

Dooley wrote the script himself, and has discovered a story made for telling, and for theater. My wife Becky, on leaving the theater said "You know, one reason I feel so cold is that it was like I was there in Antarctica with him."

Cold is just one of the elements he battled. As the play nears its end, you hear the climactic story of Shackleton's voyage, when their ship Endurance is caught in ice just short of their landfall. The ice then carries them 800 miles away, out of the reach of whaling ships that might happen along to rescue them.

The ship sinks, and the men strike out into the ocean in 21-foot lifeboats. They miraculously make landfall on Elephant Island, and decide to leave most of the men there while a group of eight or ten try to sail to South Georgia Island, the nearest habitation.

What an adventure! The island is 800 miles away, and to reach it they must cross some of the most treacherous waters on earth in a lifeboat! Add to that the fact that they had only three days of sun to assist them in their navigation. That doesn't even take into consideration the hurricane they encounter on the way!

By evening's end, everyone in the theater had fallen in love with this spirited man. His stories revealed much about the pioneer spirit, his love for his fellow man, and a reverence for nature in all its awe and power.

"Tom Crean : Antarctic Explorer" runs through Sept. 25 at Northern Stage in White River Junction. Tickets may be reserved by calling 802-296-7000.

By Charlie McMeekin

"Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer"