SCOTT’S LAST JOURNEY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 946, 12 April 1930, Page 27

SCOTT’S LAST JOURNEY

! DRAMA OF SOUTH POLE INBERLIN FINE TRIBUTE PAID No finer tribute has been paid to England by Germany for along time than the production under Jessner, at the State Theatre, Berlin, of the three-act drama “South Pole Expedition of Captain Scott.” The author is Reinhard Goering, some of whose earlier work, written during the war, is still considered .the best of its kind in Germany today. Goering is fascinated bj- the inevitableness of antique tragedy, the dignity and hopelessness of man’s fight against Destiny. So steeped is he in classic tradition that in the case of this Captain Scott drama there is an invisible many-voiced chorus, sunk in the orchestra, whose explanations and comments explain the action that has progressed “off.” He keeps strictly to the letter of Captain Scott’s own diaries. “O Bitter Amundsen!” wails the chorus, whose sympathies are with the Norwegians’ disappointed rivals. The Amundsen who is shown on the stage, both returning over the ice from his triumphant journey and arriving in Tasmania, is a self-confident and quietly-heroic man. The Lady Scott who greets him at the port, in deep disappointment that her husband lias not returned first with the news of achievement, and unaware as yet of the depth of the tragedy is a very restrained and rather monotonous woman. A severe critic would be likely to say that both Scott and his companions are played too limply, too sadly, with too little of their natural humour and cheerful courage. But they are dying men, and they bring unspoken regrets home to the audience with as little gesture as possible. Viewed by classic standards Goer-

mg lias -written an epic worthy of a place of honour in the literature of any country. From the ordinary point of view it needs must be a bad play whose great dramatic moment comes during the first act. This is when the mist enveloping the sheet of ice that is the pole parts slowly, and the northern sun bursts out in dazzling radiance. There is a shout of joy from four exhausted men that breaks off sharply as they catch sight of Amundsen's tattered rag fluttering where England s flag was to have waved. The poet, in the view of no small section of Berlin criticism, has laid too great stress on the fact of the exployers’ disappointment. Surely it was the venture that counted, the something attempted that was done, no matter who did it first. Goering believes that he expresses the English spirit of Scott and his men best in sharply defining the sporting interest that was at stake.