Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Martin Bonger, Margit Szlavik, Elisabet Topp.

There is nothing better feeling than coming out of the theatre knowing you haven’t just been entertained but also educated as well. It is like reading for example American Pastoral by Philip Roth and realising just how much you have learned about the art of making gloves or the inside knowledge of whales you find repeating when reading Moby Dick, theatre is another avenue in which to be cultivated and undeniably enlightened, especially when the play is North North North.

The tale of the disastrous balloon expedition in 1897 led by S.A Andrée is one that many might well have gone their whole lives not hearing. Even with a film and documentary highlighting the wonderful insanity that led three men to eventually succumb to the inevitable as the flight of the balloon, Eagle crashed onto the heavy pack ice of the Artic and the subsequent march to death, there will be many who, even well versed in Victorian era escapades and adventures, will sit up and listen with interest as Martin Bonger, Margit Szlavik and Elisabet Topp give a tremendous account of the journey into the great white unknown.

Part comedy, part education, North North North took the story of S.A Andrée, Nils Strindberg and Knut Frænkel and gave it life again, they breathed such quality into a story deserving of recognition that despite already guessing the end had the audience wrapped in anticipation at what was going to befall the three explorers next.

Throughout it all, safe in the seats of a cosy theatre and the nearest to any danger anybody would find would be the queue to the toilets stretching out of the corridor, the incredible way that the stage seemed to shrink around the three actors, the mirroring and symbolic nature of their lives ebbing away before the audience’s eyes was enough to make anyone feel the cold bitter chill of death stalking the snow, to understand the dangers of frost bite to a frail human body and the utter charm of learning about three men brave enough to be reckless in their own folly. If this is education, if this entertaining and culturally important then nobody would have surely left the Unity Theatre disappointed, for this is exactly what the Unity Theatre stands for.

North North North is a play of complex emotions, the need to laugh being egged on by three great performers and the sorrow of knowing that exploration, the giant leap into the unknown, is far from an easy task. Very enjoyable and a play that has you reaching eagerly for the history books!

Ian D. Hall