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A CurtainUp London Review
The Conquest of the South Pole
by Tim Macavoy
Originally written by East German playmaker Manfred Karge in the 1980s, it doesn’t take much imagination to reset the four friends into London 2012 – the underclass have a particular timelessness when it comes to theatre. Unemployed, disillusioned and drifting, Braukmann, Slupianek, Buscher and Seiffert hide away from the world, recreating Amundsen’s polar conquest with white laundered bed-sheets and pants as their snowy backdrop. The energetic language and complex group dynamic is played with brash theatricality, often falling into surreality. But Braukmann’s wife is on hand to remind the boys that they have worldly responsibilities, and before long their differences force the group to abandon their expedition. Director Stephen Unwin (of The Rose Theatre, Kingston) uses his experience with classical staging to smash several walls, fourth and all, with this production that he first worked on in 1988. The original helped launch the careers of Ewen Bremner and Alan Cumming; and with this new generation, it looks set to send some very strong actors into the world. Some have already achieved success with TV appearances (such as Being Human’s Andrew Gower as Seiffert who enthuses his now characteristic nervous energy into an intriguing troubled character). This show will certainly not be a treat for everyone. It’s confrontational, odd, darkly comic and frequently loud. But fans of work that feels new, exciting and raw will sit through a very happy 90 minutes of material that feels as fresh as when it was first performed. Unwin describes it as a parable of hope and despair, dreams and reality. In neatly captures the feeling that in everyday life you can be making your own impossible journey in a blinding landscape. The climax of the play is wonderful. Never have I seen six people count to (almost) 180 and receive such rapturous applause. And with that little teaser, I leave you to your own voyage into the unknown. . . or if you choose to go and see the play for yourself: Dalston…
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