Fram (play)
Encyclopedia
Fram is a 2008 play by Tony Harrison
. It uses the story of the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen
's attempt to reach the North Pole, and his subsequent campaign to relieve famine in the Soviet Union
to explore the role of art in a world beset by seemingly greater issues. It is named after Fram
, the ship built for Nansen for his Arctic journey, and subsequently used by Roald Amundsen
to reach the South Pole.
Fram received its premiere at the Olivier auditorium of the Royal National Theatre
, London
on 10 April 2008. The National Theatre's production was directed by Tony Harrison and Bob Crowley
; its cast included Jasper Britton
as Nansen, Mark Addy
as Hjalmar Johansen
, Sian Thomas
as Sybil Thorndike
and Jeff Rawle
as Gilbert Murray
.
, Westminster Abbey
in London
, where the ghost of Gilbert Murray
enlists Sybil Thorndike
to join her in his new play, Fram, at the Royal National Theatre
. They travel from the Abbey to the theatre to begin the play, and it starts in the Arctic
with Fridtjof Nansen
and his suicidal alcoholic companion Hjalmar Johansen
trying to reach the North Pole.
It skips forward in time to after Nansen and Johansen's record has been broken. In despair, Nansen becomes desperate, and Johansen shoots himself. Nansen then goes on to try to help the victims of the Russian famine, though he is haunted by the ghost of Johansen. Nansen associates with Gilbert Murray and Sybil Thorndike in his attempts to support the work in helping the children in Russia.
Murray and Thorndike returning to Poets' Corner where they are haunted by a muted Kurd
ish refugee poet (based on Abas Amini http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2939156.stm). As he is about to ascend to the afterworld of the poets, Murray declares himself unworthy and storms off.
The play ends with Nansen and Johansen describing the plight of two African refugees who died of cold aboard a plane.
The use of verse received criticism, with many reviewers lampooning it with their own attempts at doggerel
. Rhoda Koenig wrote, “Since the play stands up for poetry in a world dominated by fact and image, it's unfortunate that Harrison's verse does not provide much evidence for the defence.”
There was some admiration for the scope of the themes addressed. Heather Neill of The Stage
wrote, “... no-one is in any doubt that serious issues are being addressed.” Michael Billington
commented, “It hardly makes for a coherent whole, but it has exciting moments and a wild madcap inventiveness...He has bitten off more than any single play can chew and, dramatically, there are dead patches. But I can forgive any play that aims high.”. However, some reviewers found the play too long and self indulgent. For example, The Daily Telegraph
complained, “Harrison the director appears to have done nothing to curb Harrison the poet's intolerable logorrhoea
.”
Many critics praised Sian Thomas
's Thorndike. The Stage called it “a brilliant, brave, performance as a red-gowned Thorndike demonstrating the power of theatre to change minds by acting a starving Russian.”
The journal Arion
published a critical appraisal by Rebecca Nemser describing Fram as "not just a play within a play, but a theater within a theater. Most of all, it is a poem about poetry." Nemser praises the play while recognizing its problematic reception
:
Doubt, in Nemser's view, lies at the thematic heart of the play.
Tony Harrison
Tony Harrison is an English poet and playwright. He is noted for controversial works such as the poem V and Fram, as well as his versions of ancient Greek tragedies, including the Oresteia and Hecuba...
. It uses the story of the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
's attempt to reach the North Pole, and his subsequent campaign to relieve famine in the Soviet Union
Russian famine of 1921
The Russian famine of 1921, also known as Povolzhye famine, which began in the early spring of that year, and lasted through 1922, was a severe famine that occurred in Bolshevik Russia...
to explore the role of art in a world beset by seemingly greater issues. It is named after Fram
Fram
Fram is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912...
, the ship built for Nansen for his Arctic journey, and subsequently used by Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
to reach the South Pole.
Fram received its premiere at the Olivier auditorium of the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 10 April 2008. The National Theatre's production was directed by Tony Harrison and Bob Crowley
Bob Crowley
Bob Crowley is a theatre director, scenic and costume designer.Born in Cork, Ireland, he is the brother of director John Crowley...
; its cast included Jasper Britton
Jasper Britton
Jasper Britton, in is an actor.Britton is the son of veteran actor Tony Britton, and Danish sculptor and member of the World War II Danish Resistance Eva Castle Britton...
as Nansen, Mark Addy
Mark Addy
Mark Addy Johnson is an English actor, best known for his roles as Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the UK sitcom The Thin Blue Line, Dave in the British film The Full Monty, father Bill Miller in the U.S...
as Hjalmar Johansen
Hjalmar Johansen
Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen was a polar explorer from Norway. He shipped out with Fridtjof Nansen's Fram expedition in 1893–1896, and accompanied Nansen to notch a new Farthest North record near the North Pole on what was then the frozen Arctic Ocean...
, Sian Thomas
Sian Thomas
Siân Thomas is an award-winning Welsh actress who trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.She has appeared on stage, on TV and in films such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in which she played Amelia Bones. She also appeared in the classic 1992 Spanish television series...
as Sybil Thorndike
Sybil Thorndike
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE was a British actress.-Early life:She was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral...
and Jeff Rawle
Jeff Rawle
Jeff Rawle is a British actor, perhaps best known for playing the long-suffering George in the news-gathering sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey...
as Gilbert Murray
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray, OM was an Australian born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century...
.
Plot
The play starts in Poets' CornerPoets' Corner
Poets' Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey because of the number of poets, playwrights, and writers buried and commemorated there. The most recent additions were a memorial floor stone unveiled in 2009 for the founders of the Royal Ballet...
, Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where the ghost of Gilbert Murray
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray, OM was an Australian born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century...
enlists Sybil Thorndike
Sybil Thorndike
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE was a British actress.-Early life:She was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral...
to join her in his new play, Fram, at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
. They travel from the Abbey to the theatre to begin the play, and it starts in the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
with Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
and his suicidal alcoholic companion Hjalmar Johansen
Hjalmar Johansen
Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen was a polar explorer from Norway. He shipped out with Fridtjof Nansen's Fram expedition in 1893–1896, and accompanied Nansen to notch a new Farthest North record near the North Pole on what was then the frozen Arctic Ocean...
trying to reach the North Pole.
It skips forward in time to after Nansen and Johansen's record has been broken. In despair, Nansen becomes desperate, and Johansen shoots himself. Nansen then goes on to try to help the victims of the Russian famine, though he is haunted by the ghost of Johansen. Nansen associates with Gilbert Murray and Sybil Thorndike in his attempts to support the work in helping the children in Russia.
Murray and Thorndike returning to Poets' Corner where they are haunted by a muted Kurd
Kürd
Kürd or Kyurd or Kyurt may refer to:*Kürd Eldarbəyli, Azerbaijan*Kürd Mahrızlı, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Goychay, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Qabala, Azerbaijan*Qurdbayram, Azerbaijan...
ish refugee poet (based on Abas Amini http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2939156.stm). As he is about to ascend to the afterworld of the poets, Murray declares himself unworthy and storms off.
The play ends with Nansen and Johansen describing the plight of two African refugees who died of cold aboard a plane.
Themes
There are many themes used in the play, most of which relate to modern day problems in the world.- Refugees: both the mute Kurdish refugee and the two African boys are refugees, and they are portrayed as great heroes, heading for a destination. This is linked into the Nansen passportNansen passportNansen passports were internationally recognized identity cards first issued by the League of Nations to stateless refugees.-Origins:Designed in 1921 by Fridtjof Nansen, in 1942 they were honored by governments in 52 countries and were the first refugee travel documents...
scheme, and the inability of the famine victims to flee to the west. - Climate ChangeClimate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
: the plays' final scene is a projection of London under snow, and Nansen himself described the end of the world as one that would be covered in ice, which he contrasted with the fiery RagnarokRagnarökIn Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures , the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water...
of NorseNorse mythologyNorse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
myth. - FamineFamineA famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
: the play largely bases itself around the Russian famine of 1921Russian famine of 1921The Russian famine of 1921, also known as Povolzhye famine, which began in the early spring of that year, and lasted through 1922, was a severe famine that occurred in Bolshevik Russia...
, and deals with the theme of famine. Eglantyne notes that if some sort of projection device could be put into people's homes (an allusion to the televisionTelevisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
), then the scenes of famine could be broadcast to the masses, and everyone would send money. Murray replies with the fact that they could simply turn it off. - SocialismSocialismSocialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
versus Social DarwinismSocial DarwinismSocial Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
: Nansen goes from being a Social Darwinist to supporting humanitarianism with the Russian aid movement, whereas Johansen goes from believing in a united socialist world to a social Darwinist view after his death. - The value of ArtArtArt is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
: A debate is held to discover which art form, including poetryPoetryPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, theatreTheatreTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
or cinemaFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
is best at describing the horrors of famine.
Cast
The cast of the original National Theatre production:- Hjalmar JohansenHjalmar JohansenFredrik Hjalmar Johansen was a polar explorer from Norway. He shipped out with Fridtjof Nansen's Fram expedition in 1893–1896, and accompanied Nansen to notch a new Farthest North record near the North Pole on what was then the frozen Arctic Ocean...
- Mark AddyMark AddyMark Addy Johnson is an English actor, best known for his roles as Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the UK sitcom The Thin Blue Line, Dave in the British film The Full Monty, father Bill Miller in the U.S... - Fridtjof NansenFridtjof NansenFridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
- Jasper BrittonJasper BrittonJasper Britton, in is an actor.Britton is the son of veteran actor Tony Britton, and Danish sculptor and member of the World War II Danish Resistance Eva Castle Britton... - ARAAmerican Relief AdministrationAmerican Relief Administration was an American relief mission to Europe and later Soviet Russia after World War I. Herbert Hoover, future president of the United States, was the program director....
Man A - Jim Creighton - Sheldon - Patrick DruryPatrick DruryPatrick Drury is a character actor best remembered for playing shopkeeper John O'Leary in the Channel 4 comedy Father Ted. Drury was married to actress Caroline Langrishe before divorcing in 1995. They have two daughters, Rosalind and Leonie....
- Ballerina - Viviana DuranteViviana DuranteViviana Durante is an Italian-born English prima ballerina who is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest and most dramatic ballerinas of her time. She was formerly a Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet. She has performed internationally as a Guest Principal, since 2003 predominantly in Japan...
- ARA Man B - Steven Helliwell
- Kurdish Poet - Aykut HilmiAykut HilmiAykut Hilmi is a British actor. He is best known for starring in numerous West End theatres and his role in the film Mamma Mia!. Hilmi has also appeared in several TV episodes including: Zen, Spooks, The IT Crowd, and Panorama...
- Ruth FryRuth FryAnna Ruth Fry, usually known as Ruth Fry was a British Quaker writer, pacifist and peace activist.-Life:...
- Clare LawrenceClare LawrenceClare Lawrence Moody is an English television and stage actor and producer. She is the daughter of English television director Laurence Moody... - Eglantyne JebbEglantyne JebbEglantyne Jebb was a British social reformer.- Early life :She was born in 1876 in Ellesmere, Shropshire, and grew up on her family's estate. The Jebbs were a well-off family and had a strong social conscience and commitment to public service...
- Carolyn PicklesCarolyn PicklesCarolyn Pickles is an English actress who has appeared in West End theatre and on British television, perhaps most notably in Emmerdale as Shelly Williams.-Life and career:Pickles was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England... - Gilbert MurrayGilbert MurrayGeorge Gilbert Aimé Murray, OM was an Australian born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century...
- Jeff RawleJeff RawleJeff Rawle is a British actor, perhaps best known for playing the long-suffering George in the news-gathering sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey... - Sybil ThorndikeSybil ThorndikeDame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE was a British actress.-Early life:She was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral...
- Sian ThomasSian ThomasSiân Thomas is an award-winning Welsh actress who trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.She has appeared on stage, on TV and in films such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in which she played Amelia Bones. She also appeared in the classic 1992 Spanish television series... - ARA Man C - Joseph Thompson
Critical response
The National Theatre production received generally unenthusiastic reviews.The use of verse received criticism, with many reviewers lampooning it with their own attempts at doggerel
Doggerel
Doggerel is a derogatory term for verse considered of little literary value. The word probably derived from dog, suggesting either ugliness, puppyish clumsiness, or unpalatability in the 1630s.-Variants:...
. Rhoda Koenig wrote, “Since the play stands up for poetry in a world dominated by fact and image, it's unfortunate that Harrison's verse does not provide much evidence for the defence.”
There was some admiration for the scope of the themes addressed. Heather Neill of The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
wrote, “... no-one is in any doubt that serious issues are being addressed.” Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
commented, “It hardly makes for a coherent whole, but it has exciting moments and a wild madcap inventiveness...He has bitten off more than any single play can chew and, dramatically, there are dead patches. But I can forgive any play that aims high.”. However, some reviewers found the play too long and self indulgent. For example, The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
complained, “Harrison the director appears to have done nothing to curb Harrison the poet's intolerable logorrhoea
Logorrhoea
Logorrhoea or logorrhea may refer to:*Logorrhoea, a synonym of verbosity*Logorrhea , a communication disorder resulting in incoherent talkativeness...
.”
Many critics praised Sian Thomas
Sian Thomas
Siân Thomas is an award-winning Welsh actress who trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.She has appeared on stage, on TV and in films such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in which she played Amelia Bones. She also appeared in the classic 1992 Spanish television series...
's Thorndike. The Stage called it “a brilliant, brave, performance as a red-gowned Thorndike demonstrating the power of theatre to change minds by acting a starving Russian.”
The journal Arion
Arion (journal)
Arion is a journal of humanities and the classics published at Boston University. The editor-in-chief is Herbert Golder, a professor of classics at BU.Originally founded in the 1960s at the University of Texas, Arion was revived by Golder in 1990...
published a critical appraisal by Rebecca Nemser describing Fram as "not just a play within a play, but a theater within a theater. Most of all, it is a poem about poetry." Nemser praises the play while recognizing its problematic reception
Reception theory
Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes the reader's reception of a literary text. It is more generally called audience reception in the analysis of communications models. In literary studies, reception theory originated from the work of Hans-Robert Jauss in...
:
- "At intermission, the audience drank wine and talked about the play on the terrace of the National Theatre on London's South Bank. London's monuments were all illuminated, reflected in the dark waters of the Thames. 'It's in verse,' one woman hissed, outraged. Some drifted away into the lovely spring night and did not return. And indeed Fram is not for the squeamish; it is full of evocations of foul smells, buzzing flies, rotted flesh, cannibalism, horse-dung bread, the horrors of war, famine, despair, and doubt."
Doubt, in Nemser's view, lies at the thematic heart of the play.