In the Arctic of it

Rarely, if ever, does a play makes its way from the classroom onto the world’s stage. But that is precisely what happened to Aidan Dooley’s Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer.

The one-man show was originally commissioned by the powers-that-be in a museum in Britain, says its author, because they thought the life of the only man – an Irishman, at that! – who ever served with Scott and Shackleton on three famous expeditions should be celebrated.
It has since gone on to win for Dooley a Best Actor Nomination at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2003, Best Solo Performance Award Winner at the New York International Fringe Festival 2003 and a Winner of the Fringe First at Edinburgh last year. Tom Crean: Antartic Explorer also has been described by at least one critic as “a remarkable and uplifting piece of theatre” though it could easily have been otherwise, given the fact that it tells the tale of Crean’s 36 mile solitary trek to base camp during the Terra Nova expedition of 1910-1913 to rescue his comrades Teddy Evans and William Lashly.
“The play could very much have been otherwise,” Dooley agrees. “In fact a lot of people understandably think it is going to be a very heavy evening at the theatre, but it’s not. On the contrary it’s uplifting, not just in terms of the story but because I bring a lot of humour to the tale. Instinctively, I like to hear an audience laugh.
“When you hear the stories of Crean’s endeavours to keep other people alive, it gives you that sense of ‘what the hell am I complaining about’ no matter what may be happening in your life. It’s a bit like a really good motivational experience when you hear, say, the story of someone who is blind and disabled and is trying to cross the Sahara. It definitely makes you feel life is worth living.”
Likewise, obviously, the play makes you feel that lives are worth saving – or at least trying to save, whatever the context. But, for those who don’t known the story, let’s not spoil the evening by disclosing whether Crean does actually save his buddies or, indeed, whether he lives or dies.
“I kind of suggest the ending at the start but I remember once, at a question and answer session after the play, one theatre-goer asked, ‘So did he save the two lads or are they still in the tent?’ and that’s when I realised I had to make it clearer to audiences what did actually happen. But I tell the tale as if it’s Tom telling you the story and whether or not you know the ending, the details I impart, the storytelling aspect of the production and the nature of the quest, hopefully, are what will keep the narrative moving and the audience interested. I also realised I must keep the narrative straight and simple and not cloud it with too many clauses or too much cleverness.”
One aspect of recreating a life on stage is, of course, that there may be some relatives of your subject still alive and Dooley was “profoundly moved” when he did a performance of Tom Crean Antartic Explorer in Kerry some years ago and two of Crean’s daughters arrived at the show.
“That was when I first took the play out of the environment of the museum and brought it to Ireland and I did it for invited guests,” he recalls. “And two of the people there were his only living daughters, though one, sadly, has since died. I was terrified that evening. I really thought, ‘Who the hell do I think I am, telling their father’s story as though I think I’m him?’ But they were delighted and that was immensely gratifying to me.”
Tom Crean’s two living grandsons are coming to the Olympia to see the play in Dublin, he reveals. “And they have kept in touch with me. But if ever there was a moment they – or Tom’s daughters – said, ‘We are unhappy with what you are doing’ the project would stop immediately. Because I really do hold the integrity of Tom Crean’s memory way over and above my own artistic desires to present this show.”