Tornrak
Encyclopedia
Tornrak is the third opera
by Welsh
composer John Metcalf
. It has an English-language libretto
by Michael Wilcox
with Inuktitut
sections translated by Blendina Makkik. Set between the worlds of the Canadian Arctic
and Victorian Britain, it features Inuit throat singing
and other extended vocal techniques
that give the Arctic scenes a distinct character. The opera was composed between 1986 and 1990 when Metcalf was working in Canada. It was first staged in 1990 in a co-production by the Banff Centre
, where Metcalf worked, and the Welsh National Opera
who had commissioned the work.
(WNO) had first discussed with Metcalf the possibility of his writing a second opera, after The Journey, for them in 1981, it was not until 1986 that Brian McMaster, the company's then managing director, first brought the composer and librettist together. After Wilcox had initially started work on another idea, Metcalf contacted him about the true story of a 19th century Inuit
girl, Milak, who rescued a British sailor, Arthur. Like the character in the opera, the true Milak was shown as a circus freak; unlike her, she returned home.
The development of Tornrak was greatly influenced by Metcalf's move to Canada later in 1986 to teach on the Music Theatre course at the Banff Centre
in Alberta
. He subsequently became Artistic Director of the programme and Composer-in-Residence. Wilcox visited Metcalf in Canada that winter to work on the first draft of the libretto and used the library facilities there to learn about Inuit traditions and mythology. Metcalf too found that the setting enabled him to portray their subject in a more genuine manner. "If I wasn't in the North itself, at least I could now be in contact with a way of looking at the world, the culture, the music, and the language of the Inuit that would have been absolutely impossible in Wales."
From 1988 onwards, Metcalf tried out sections of the developing opera in workshops at Banff. Such support for new compositions were an important facet of the programme there. He also had ready access to experienced colleagues such as Keith Turnbull, the Assistant Director on the course, and Richard E. Armstrong who had worked with Roy Hart
. Just as Peter Maxwell Davies
had composed Eight Songs for a Mad King
with Hart's unusual voice and extended vocal techniques in mind, so Metcalf was able to compose Tornrak knowing that Armstrong would participate in the opera and also coach the other performers. Armstrong's repertoire of unusual sounds were used in the writing for the spirits and animals. The Inuit parts also required techniques new to Western singers. Fides Krucker, who played the part of Milak in Banff, visited Iqaluit in 1989 and 1990. There she learnt the Inuit throat singing
techniques which she used in her performances and on which she advised Metcalf.
Wilcox encouraged Metcalf to make any changes to the libretto that he needed. He himself revisited Banff again to update the text. Even when he was in Britain, he would respond to urgent phone calls to make changes during the workshops. One of the most significant of the changes to the libretto was the decision to translate much of the first act from English into Inuktitut. Differences in stress patterns between the two languages meant that Metcalf recomposed vocal lines, moving material initially intended to be sung into the orchestral parts.
Meanwhile, WNO had agreed to a change in the scale of Tornrak. Instead of it being a chamber opera
using just ten singers to be performed in small venues in Wales, it would now use a larger cast including a chorus and be staged in the large venues normally used by the full company. While those who were involved in the project were sure that the final work was stronger than it would have otherwise been, the many changes resulted in severe delays to the opera's completion and led to repeated postponements of the first performance.
, two years later than originally planned. This first Welsh performance, with chorus, is often listed as the official première. A second performance in Cardiff later that month was broadcast on BBC Radio 3
. The production was toured to six English cities during June and July.
Fides Krucker, the original Milak, kept the role in her repertoire performing extracts, for example at the Royal Ontario Museum
in 1994
. The production team, led by Mike Ashman, won praise for its creativity with the limited resources available.
Tornrak is scored for strings, flute, piccolo, oboe, (doubling cor anglais,) 2 clarinets, (doubling E flat clarinets,) bassoon (doubling contra bassoon,) 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, tuba, piano, vibraphone and separate percussionist. The first act is based on an ascending scale running from C through F to C again using the five black notes; the second act uses a descending scale, again based on C but this time using all white notes taken from the major scale
with the exception of the sharpened F.
While the opera is representative of the composer's early musical style, it also advances it. The music is multi-layered and rhythmically complex, much of it using middle colours including woodwind and tuned percussion. In Metcalf's first opera, The Journey, solo instruments, usually high pitched, reacted to the voices; Tornrak makes only occasional use of solo violin or the upper registers of the piano. Extreme colours and registers serve to increase the contrasts already present in earlier works.
On the non-musical level, too, Tornrak develops ideas seen in the composer's earlier works. Metcalf's sometime collaborator, the writer Mark Morris, notes that Metcalf's first two operas and his cantata
The Boundaries of Time had already considered such themes as the clash of cultures, the alienation of individuals from their surroundings, the attempts of humanity to communicate with Nature and the displacement of individuals from their homelands. These all appear in his third opera. Tornrak presents the theme of clashing cultures most strongly in two crowd scenes musically distinct from the balance of the score: in the fair and court scenes, the music is vertical, reflecting the clash in values between those present, whereas in most of the opera each layer has its own momentum and the music develops horizontally, representing individual destinies that largely develop autonomously.
The score is remarkable for its incorporation of Inuit throat singing
and other extended vocal techniques, establishing distinct sound worlds for the scenes set in the Arctic and those set in Victorian Britain. Indigenous singers took part in the workshops in Banff and also travelled to Wales to train the WNO cast. Although it is not uncommon for opera to mix different national music styles when portraying clashes between cultures, Tornrak stands out because both Inuit music and its singing techniques are foreign to the Western musical tradition.
, has been behaving in a disruptive manner, the Captain asks him to explain his conduct. The rest of Act I and most of Act II is told in flashback.
1845, the Enterprise, a sister ship of Endeavour, has foundered in the Arctic. Arthur and three others escape into the ice. One of them, Kellett, kills Collinson, a young officer, after they argue over some valuables. Kellett and the last sailor Billy escape without Arthur who is saved from starvation only when he sees a polar bear taking meat from its hidden store. Arthur dreams of returning home and of the rich life he would afford with the valuables. An apparition warns him that he needs to survive first.
Milak, a young Inuk
, arrives led by her tornrak, or spirit guide, that takes the form of an owl. She knows of the bear's meat cache and intends to raid it. The tornrak abandons her when she notices signs of Arthur's presence. Milak wonders whether it has led her into a trap. Arthur, in turn, thinks she has come to steal from him.
The bear returns and the two humans fight it. The spirits of Inuit hunters sing that the bear's time has come and Arthur strikes the killing blow. Milak throat-sings with the dying animal and frees its tornrak by skinning it. She gives Arthur the pelt. She leads him towards her village which has been devastated by disease caught from the British. On the way she persuades him to leave behind the valuables that have been slowing him down, but she decides to keep the "Great White Bird flying with many wings", a ship in a bottle
that reminds her of her tornrak.
When they return to the village, only Milak's father Utak is still alive. Expecting death, he tears off his clothing and calls his tornrak. It kills him as payment for all the help it has given him since childhood, leaving his bones unburied and his spirit to wander.
During the Winter, Arthur and Milak learn bits of each other's languages. In the Spring, they are discovered by a British ship which has come to trade with the village. The explorer Sir Charles Keighley decides to take Milak to Britain to help with his research. She agrees because she thinks the ship is her tornrak.
Arthur and Milak, "The Wild Savage of the Frozen North", join a travelling fair
in Wales where she is shown to members of the public in a cage. The spectators find her performance frightening. Another member of the fair, a bearkeeper, tries to rape her. Although she escapes him, she is locked in her cage. She persuades the bear to break open the cage and then escape. The crowd are frightened by it and a constable shoots it despite the bearkeeper's pleas. Both he and Arthur find themselves without exhibits.
Milak survives in the country by catching animals such as rabbits and sheep. A molecatcher warns her that she could be hanged for theft. She moves to an industrial town where she becomes a prostitute. She meets Arthur again who tries to persuade her to return to the Arctic but she thinks this is now impossible as she has become Westernised and cut off from Nature. The two are recognised by the bearkeeper who has Milak arrested as the wild woman who has been reported to be stealing sheep. The Judge sentences her to hang despite protests from Arthur and the spectators that she had no other option.
Back on the Endeavour, Arthur has finished his narration. The Captain leaves him in charge of the helm. Arthur tears off his clothes and calls to Milak's spirit in the hope that the ship will be sunk and the Inuit protected from the dangers its crew bring. In a squall, Milak's tornrak arrives, once more in the form of an owl.
Arthur is found dead and frozen to the wheel. Only the Mate is willing to obey the Captain and remove the body. When he throws the corpse overboard, the squall stops and the ship is suddenly becalmed. There is no reading on the compass.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
by Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
composer John Metcalf
John Metcalf (composer)
John Metcalf is a British and Canadian composer. He has worked in many forms, including large-scale operas, choral and orchestral works, and a great deal of chamber music, both instrumental and vocal...
. It has an English-language libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Michael Wilcox
Michael Wilcox
Michael Wilcox, born on 6 June 1943 in Totnes, Devon, is a British playwright.He was resident playwright at the Dovecot Arts Centre in Stockton-on-Tees for the 1977 season.In 1980, he was resident playwright at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh....
with Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
sections translated by Blendina Makkik. Set between the worlds of the Canadian 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...
and Victorian Britain, it features Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing or katajjaq, also known as the generic term overtone singing, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the Inuit...
and other extended vocal techniques
Vocal extended technique
Vocalists are capable of producing a variety of extended technique sounds. These alternative singing techniques have been used extensively in the 20th century, especially in art song and opera...
that give the Arctic scenes a distinct character. The opera was composed between 1986 and 1990 when Metcalf was working in Canada. It was first staged in 1990 in a co-production by the Banff Centre
Banff Centre
The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...
, where Metcalf worked, and the Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
who had commissioned the work.
Composition
Although Welsh National OperaWelsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
(WNO) had first discussed with Metcalf the possibility of his writing a second opera, after The Journey, for them in 1981, it was not until 1986 that Brian McMaster, the company's then managing director, first brought the composer and librettist together. After Wilcox had initially started work on another idea, Metcalf contacted him about the true story of a 19th century Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
girl, Milak, who rescued a British sailor, Arthur. Like the character in the opera, the true Milak was shown as a circus freak; unlike her, she returned home.
The development of Tornrak was greatly influenced by Metcalf's move to Canada later in 1986 to teach on the Music Theatre course at the Banff Centre
Banff Centre
The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...
in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
. He subsequently became Artistic Director of the programme and Composer-in-Residence. Wilcox visited Metcalf in Canada that winter to work on the first draft of the libretto and used the library facilities there to learn about Inuit traditions and mythology. Metcalf too found that the setting enabled him to portray their subject in a more genuine manner. "If I wasn't in the North itself, at least I could now be in contact with a way of looking at the world, the culture, the music, and the language of the Inuit that would have been absolutely impossible in Wales."
From 1988 onwards, Metcalf tried out sections of the developing opera in workshops at Banff. Such support for new compositions were an important facet of the programme there. He also had ready access to experienced colleagues such as Keith Turnbull, the Assistant Director on the course, and Richard E. Armstrong who had worked with Roy Hart
Roy Hart
Roy Hart was an actor from South Africa at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. He was a pupil of Alfred Wolfsohn's for many years and then furthered the work on voice after Wolfsohn's death...
. Just as Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
had composed Eight Songs for a Mad King
Eight Songs for a Mad King
Eight Songs for a Mad King is a monodrama by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies with a libretto by Randolph Stow, based on words of George III. The work was written for the South-African actor Roy Hart and the composer's ensemble the Pierrot Players, and premiered on 22 April 1969...
with Hart's unusual voice and extended vocal techniques in mind, so Metcalf was able to compose Tornrak knowing that Armstrong would participate in the opera and also coach the other performers. Armstrong's repertoire of unusual sounds were used in the writing for the spirits and animals. The Inuit parts also required techniques new to Western singers. Fides Krucker, who played the part of Milak in Banff, visited Iqaluit in 1989 and 1990. There she learnt the Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing or katajjaq, also known as the generic term overtone singing, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the Inuit...
techniques which she used in her performances and on which she advised Metcalf.
Wilcox encouraged Metcalf to make any changes to the libretto that he needed. He himself revisited Banff again to update the text. Even when he was in Britain, he would respond to urgent phone calls to make changes during the workshops. One of the most significant of the changes to the libretto was the decision to translate much of the first act from English into Inuktitut. Differences in stress patterns between the two languages meant that Metcalf recomposed vocal lines, moving material initially intended to be sung into the orchestral parts.
Meanwhile, WNO had agreed to a change in the scale of Tornrak. Instead of it being a chamber opera
Chamber opera
Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra.The term and form were invented by Benjamin Britten in the 1940s, when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small...
using just ten singers to be performed in small venues in Wales, it would now use a larger cast including a chorus and be staged in the large venues normally used by the full company. While those who were involved in the project were sure that the final work was stronger than it would have otherwise been, the many changes resulted in severe delays to the opera's completion and led to repeated postponements of the first performance.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Cast in Banff World Preview 23 February 1990 (Conductor:) |
Cast in WNO premiere 19 May 1990 (Conductor: Richard Armstrong Richard Armstrong (conductor) Sir Richard Armstrong, CBE is a British conductor. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar.-Overview:... ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Captain | bass Bass guitar The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... |
Ian Comboy | |
| Helmsman | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Quentin Hayes | |
| Arthur | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Christopher Leo King | David Owen |
| First Mate | baritone | Gwion Thomas | |
| Billy | tenor | Kevin Power | John Harris |
| Collinson | baritone | Quentin Hayes | |
| Kellett | baritone | David Barrell | |
| A polar bear | extended voice artist Vocal extended technique Vocalists are capable of producing a variety of extended technique sounds. These alternative singing techniques have been used extensively in the 20th century, especially in art song and opera... |
Richard E. Armstrong | Richard E. Armstrong |
| An apparition | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Louisa Kennedy | |
| An owl tornrak | dancer/movement artist | June Campbell | |
| Milak | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Fides Krucker | Penelope Walker |
| A polar bear tornrak | extended voice artist | Richard E. Armstrong | Richard E. Armstrong |
| Utak | extended voice artist | Richard E. Armstrong | Richard E. Armstrong |
| A wolf tornrak | dancer/movement artist | June Campbell | |
| Voice of a wolf tornrak | extended voice artist | Richard E. Armstrong | Richard E. Armstrong |
| Sir Charles Keighley | baritone | Glenville Hargreaves | |
| Two sailors | baritone | Quentin Hayes | |
| baritone | Gwion Thomas | ||
| Lady Delisle | soprano | Selena James | |
| PC Evans | baritone | Gwion Thomas | |
| Men in crowd | baritone | Philip Lloyd-Evans | |
| bass | Gareth Rhys-Davies | ||
| baritone | Jack O'Kelly | ||
| Woman in crowd | mezzo-soprano | Susan Vaughan-Jones | |
| Frankie, a bear | extended voice artist | Richard E. Armstrong | Richard E. Armstrong |
| A bearkeeper | baritone | Kevin Power | Quentin Hayes |
| A molecatcher | tenor | John Harris | |
| A landlord | baritone | Gwion Thomas | |
| An old whore | soprano | Louisa Kennedy | |
| Judge | baritone | Glenville Hargreaves | |
| Prosecutor | baritone | David Barrell | |
| Usher | bass | John King | |
| Sailors, spirit voices of Inuit hunters, Villagers, Workers | Chorus | Members of the cast | Members of the WNO chorus |
Performance history
Tornrak was given a "World Preview Performance", without a chorus, in workshops in Banff on 23 February 1990. This was a co-production with Welsh National Opera with scenery, props and costumes being shared. The first performance by WNO was on 19 May 1990 at the New Theatre, CardiffNew Theatre (Cardiff)
The New Theatre although it usually uses its English name as a title) is one of the principal theatres in Cardiff, capital city of Wales, and celebrated its centenary in 2006...
, two years later than originally planned. This first Welsh performance, with chorus, is often listed as the official première. A second performance in Cardiff later that month was broadcast on BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
. The production was toured to six English cities during June and July.
Fides Krucker, the original Milak, kept the role in her repertoire performing extracts, for example at the Royal Ontario Museum
Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum is a museum of world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With its main entrance facing Bloor Street in Downtown Toronto, the museum is situated north of Queen's Park and east of Philosopher's Walk in the University of Toronto...
in 1994
Reception and assessment
The North American performances won the 1991 National Opera Association Award and the Best New Opera award from Opera AmericaOpera America
Opera America, officially OPERA America, is a service organization in North America promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera...
. The production team, led by Mike Ashman, won praise for its creativity with the limited resources available.
Tornrak is scored for strings, flute, piccolo, oboe, (doubling cor anglais,) 2 clarinets, (doubling E flat clarinets,) bassoon (doubling contra bassoon,) 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, tuba, piano, vibraphone and separate percussionist. The first act is based on an ascending scale running from C through F to C again using the five black notes; the second act uses a descending scale, again based on C but this time using all white notes taken from the major scale
Major scale
In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at...
with the exception of the sharpened F.
While the opera is representative of the composer's early musical style, it also advances it. The music is multi-layered and rhythmically complex, much of it using middle colours including woodwind and tuned percussion. In Metcalf's first opera, The Journey, solo instruments, usually high pitched, reacted to the voices; Tornrak makes only occasional use of solo violin or the upper registers of the piano. Extreme colours and registers serve to increase the contrasts already present in earlier works.
On the non-musical level, too, Tornrak develops ideas seen in the composer's earlier works. Metcalf's sometime collaborator, the writer Mark Morris, notes that Metcalf's first two operas and his cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
The Boundaries of Time had already considered such themes as the clash of cultures, the alienation of individuals from their surroundings, the attempts of humanity to communicate with Nature and the displacement of individuals from their homelands. These all appear in his third opera. Tornrak presents the theme of clashing cultures most strongly in two crowd scenes musically distinct from the balance of the score: in the fair and court scenes, the music is vertical, reflecting the clash in values between those present, whereas in most of the opera each layer has its own momentum and the music develops horizontally, representing individual destinies that largely develop autonomously.
The score is remarkable for its incorporation of Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing
Inuit throat singing or katajjaq, also known as the generic term overtone singing, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the Inuit...
and other extended vocal techniques, establishing distinct sound worlds for the scenes set in the Arctic and those set in Victorian Britain. Indigenous singers took part in the workshops in Banff and also travelled to Wales to train the WNO cast. Although it is not uncommon for opera to mix different national music styles when portraying clashes between cultures, Tornrak stands out because both Inuit music and its singing techniques are foreign to the Western musical tradition.
Act I
1850, a British naval survey ship, the Endeavour is in the Canadian Arctic. After being told by the Mate that Arthur Nesbit, a sailor from North ShieldsNorth Shields
North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...
, has been behaving in a disruptive manner, the Captain asks him to explain his conduct. The rest of Act I and most of Act II is told in flashback.
1845, the Enterprise, a sister ship of Endeavour, has foundered in the Arctic. Arthur and three others escape into the ice. One of them, Kellett, kills Collinson, a young officer, after they argue over some valuables. Kellett and the last sailor Billy escape without Arthur who is saved from starvation only when he sees a polar bear taking meat from its hidden store. Arthur dreams of returning home and of the rich life he would afford with the valuables. An apparition warns him that he needs to survive first.
Milak, a young Inuk
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
, arrives led by her tornrak, or spirit guide, that takes the form of an owl. She knows of the bear's meat cache and intends to raid it. The tornrak abandons her when she notices signs of Arthur's presence. Milak wonders whether it has led her into a trap. Arthur, in turn, thinks she has come to steal from him.
The bear returns and the two humans fight it. The spirits of Inuit hunters sing that the bear's time has come and Arthur strikes the killing blow. Milak throat-sings with the dying animal and frees its tornrak by skinning it. She gives Arthur the pelt. She leads him towards her village which has been devastated by disease caught from the British. On the way she persuades him to leave behind the valuables that have been slowing him down, but she decides to keep the "Great White Bird flying with many wings", a ship in a bottle
Impossible bottle
An impossible bottle is a type of mechanical puzzle. It is a bottle that has an object inside it that does not appear to fit through the mouth of the bottle. The objects inside authentic impossible bottles must always go through the neck. The glass cannot be cut or blown around the objects.The ship...
that reminds her of her tornrak.
When they return to the village, only Milak's father Utak is still alive. Expecting death, he tears off his clothing and calls his tornrak. It kills him as payment for all the help it has given him since childhood, leaving his bones unburied and his spirit to wander.
During the Winter, Arthur and Milak learn bits of each other's languages. In the Spring, they are discovered by a British ship which has come to trade with the village. The explorer Sir Charles Keighley decides to take Milak to Britain to help with his research. She agrees because she thinks the ship is her tornrak.
Act II
Sir Charles has given the last of his lectures on the Arctic and is thanked by Lady Delisle at her home. Now he has finished with Milak, he tells Arthur to look after her.Arthur and Milak, "The Wild Savage of the Frozen North", join a travelling fair
Traveling carnival
A traveling carnival is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, animal acts or sideshow curiosities. A traveling carnival is not set up at a permanent location, like an amusement park, but is moved from...
in Wales where she is shown to members of the public in a cage. The spectators find her performance frightening. Another member of the fair, a bearkeeper, tries to rape her. Although she escapes him, she is locked in her cage. She persuades the bear to break open the cage and then escape. The crowd are frightened by it and a constable shoots it despite the bearkeeper's pleas. Both he and Arthur find themselves without exhibits.
Milak survives in the country by catching animals such as rabbits and sheep. A molecatcher warns her that she could be hanged for theft. She moves to an industrial town where she becomes a prostitute. She meets Arthur again who tries to persuade her to return to the Arctic but she thinks this is now impossible as she has become Westernised and cut off from Nature. The two are recognised by the bearkeeper who has Milak arrested as the wild woman who has been reported to be stealing sheep. The Judge sentences her to hang despite protests from Arthur and the spectators that she had no other option.
Back on the Endeavour, Arthur has finished his narration. The Captain leaves him in charge of the helm. Arthur tears off his clothes and calls to Milak's spirit in the hope that the ship will be sunk and the Inuit protected from the dangers its crew bring. In a squall, Milak's tornrak arrives, once more in the form of an owl.
Arthur is found dead and frozen to the wheel. Only the Mate is willing to obey the Captain and remove the body. When he throws the corpse overboard, the squall stops and the ship is suddenly becalmed. There is no reading on the compass.