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Further than the Furthest Thing

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Second, when referring to something improving or making progress, then “farther” and “farthest” are not applicable. After this, I felt a little refreshed but as I came over the hill, my legs rebelled. I could walk no further. Further than the Furthest Thing is a play in two acts by the Scottish playwright Zinnie Harris, set in 1961 on a remote island based loosely on Tristan da Cunha, and in the English city of Southampton.

Plays rarely get as out there — literally so — as Further than the Furthest Thing, the Zinnie Harris theatrical fantasia of sorts which opened in 2000 at the National and was seen off-Broadway, in a separate production, in 2002. Now considered a contemporary classic of sorts, not least for its compelling strangeness, Jennifer Tang revives the play into a prime case of elliptical beauty. The play had a revival at the Dundee Repertory Theatre in 2012; artistic director James Brining created an ambitious stage design using 29,000 litres of water. [8] The water covered the stage as a shallow pool for the first act, and was collected into jars, laid around the stage, for the second. The revival was critically acclaimed, with both Brining's design and Harris' plot receiving praise, although the dialogue was criticised as over-long in places. [8] [9] Besides physical distance, farther can also refer to “a more advanced point” or “to a greater extent.” In the following quote from The Great Gatsby , for example, farther describes how arms are stretched to a greater extent. Despite the direction working against them, the performers garner strong chemistry even if they struggle to acclimtise to Harris' deliberately jarring vernacular. The first act may feel more like a rehearsed reading than an actual performance, but the second half gathers more momentum aided by trippy lighting and sound that organically undulates to evoke the play's elemental focus. Further than the Furthest Thing is not quite duller than the dullest thing, but it's not far off. It means “to aid in the progress of, to promote, or to move forward.” As an adverb , further means “in addition to.” As an adjective , it means “more, extended, or additional.” For instance, you might ask for further information or pursue further education. Consider this quote from The Life of Pi by Yann Martel:

A deeply moving Jenna Russell, taking a break from her storied musicals career, has the focal role of the islander Mill. We first encounter this sweet-voiced Scotswoman and her husband Bill (Cyril Nri) out in the remote climes of the South Atlantic archipelago of Tristan da Cunha, though the location is never specified in the script. Further Than the Furthest Thing was inspired by the true story of the evacuation of Tristan da Cuhna. Loosely based on true life events, Zinnie Harris’s sensitive portrait of a community in crisis gives voice to all that is lost when two countrymen can no longer talk to each other without first making an appointment. Isherwood, Charles (5 February 2002). "Further Than the Furthest Thing". Variety . Retrieved 19 May 2021. Bill Laverello, Mill's husband, and one of the few islanders to have left the island. He had left during the Second World War, and brought Christianity to the island on his return, becoming the island's minister.

Part of that Vesuvian mix was Zinnie Harris’s acclaimed second play, Further than the Furthest Thing. First seen in August 2000, it’s inspired by Tristan da Cunha, the South Atlantic UK Overseas Territory described as the world’s most remote inhabited archipelago. In 1961, its volcanic peak erupted, and its several hundred islanders got evacuated temporarily to England. Just such a scenario happens here but, as Harris explains, “I stole the real Tristan da Cunha to feed my imagination”. It’s 1961, and a volcanic eruption displaces this remote populace to the comparative bustle of Southampton, where we find ourselves after the interval — an incident that actually happened to this one-time British dependency. What transpires is an empathically imagined investigation into what we mean by “home”, folded into an often-grim parable of acculturation.

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The second act takes place eleven months later in Southampton, where the island's residents have been rehoused by the British government and given jobs in Mr Hansen's factory. Mill enters Mr Hansen's office, over the objections of Francis, who has become his secretary, and demanded that she first make an appointment. She asks when the islanders will be able to return to the island, and Mr Hansen informs her that the island had been rendered permanently uninhabitable by the volcanic eruption. To test your knowledge, read the sentences below and consider if “furthest” is correct in each context. Below you’ll find a few example sentences, along with explanations for why “furthest” is the correct choice. “Furthest” as an indication of figurative distance Example

During the next scene, Bill's funeral, it is revealed that Mr Hansen had admitted to the islanders that he had lied to them about the extent of the damage, and that they intended to return to the island. Mr Hansen apologises to Mill, and promises that he will ensure the supply ships come to the island annually in future. In the last scene, the islanders, including Rebecca, leave Southampton, with the exception of Francis, who tries to persuade Rebecca to convince him to return but ultimately chooses to remain. Based on real events on the island of Tristan da Cunha, this multi-award-winning play by Zinnie Harris ( Macbeth (an undoing), This Restless House, How To Hold Your Breath) follows a community haunted by its past and under threat from a modern world in crisis. As the play begins, wayward son of the island Francis (Archie Madekwe) has returned after a spell working in South Africa. He has been raised by his formidable aunt Mill (Jenna Russell) and on-edge uncle Bill (Cyril Nri), two idiosyncratic island folk who speak with endearinglyidiosyncraticaccents as they fret over the three eggs (‘h’eggs’) that Mill has acquired by way of a celebration of Francis’s return. Zinnie Harris’s Further than the Furthest Thing play follows an island community who face up to their past. They’ve lived peacefully for centuries, avoiding modern developments and a way of life that could corrupt their existence. But in 1961, a native outsider disrupts all ties to the land. What could happen when the “H’outside world” take over? That’s especially true of a staging as alert as this one to the imaginative reach of a text that unapologetically makes demands upon its audience: quite a few spectators disappeared at the interval, though those who stayed proffered a rousing response at the bows. Gilmour’s turntable design proffers an amphitheatre given shape and depth by Prema Mehta’s lighting and George Dennis’s sound design: joint contributors to the arresting otherness of the occasion.Naomi Preston-Low completes the cast as the hapless Rebecca, well-pregnant with an ill-conceived baby. I won’t pretend it’s an easy evening. With its subdued yet unabashedly theatrical tone, its unfamiliarly accented bursts of pidgin English, its slightly overgenerous running time of more than two and a half hours, it needs to build to a surprising and rewarding ending. It does. And, along the way, there are moments I think I will never forget. There are visions of island life that, even though Soutra Gilmour’s in-the-round revolving set is largely bare, I will carry around as if I lived them myself." It has been sixteen years since Zinnie Harris’ Further Than the Furthest Thing first debuted at the Traverse Theatre, a fraught meditation on what happens when a remote island community is suddenly confronted with modernity. Based on true events from the island Tristan da Cunha, the play tells the story of the islanders who were evacuated and displaced after a volcanic eruption in 1961. It touches on capitalism and industrialisation, but also on the disturbing lengths that the islanders will go to to preserve their untouched way of life. The play is now enjoying a revival at Bedlam Theatre, in a production developed by the Edinburgh University Theatre Company. Towards the end of the first half, the island’s volcano erupts, which sets up the much stronger second half. Here the islanders have been relocated to England, working in one of Hansen’s factories. It’s not a life they enjoy: ‘puddings and the Queen and football matches and puddings’ sighs Mill of early ’60s Britain.

After a dramatic rescue, 264 were re-homed in Hampshire, but they never settled for the easy life on mainland England, and returned after a couple of years, only to face a devastating cyclone in more recent times.In the second half, the islanders have been evacuated and relocated to England. They are working in one of Hansen’s glass jar factories. Mill yearns to return to her beloved island, but is told that the volcano destroyed everything. When Mill reveals a terrible secret from the past, Hansen decides to tell her the truth.

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