Further Than The Furthest Thing
21 March 2023
Young Vic
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Further Than The Furthest Thing is not one for the light-hearted people out there. It’s a dark, intense tale of human suffering, hope, and ideals.
The play is loosely based on the real events on the island of Tristan da Cunha, an extremely remote volcanic island in the Atlantic Ocean. A very isolated community, the islanders have built an extremely close knit society of just a couple hundred people, closely interwoven families who carry just 8 last names across the island. While they have some resources of their own, they rely on supply ships before the stormy season every year, and sometimes their younger members leave with the ships to see the world beyond the island.
When the volcano of the island erupts in 1961, a supply ship evacuates the entire population of Tristan da Cunha to England, where they have to swap their primitive economy for capitalism overnight, being made to work in factories under gruelling schedules they are not accustomed to. They struggle with the weather, the lifestyle, the way they are treated due to their primitive sounding island accents.
A tale of exploitation, of suffering, of personal conflict and consequences, Further Than The Furthest Thing is not easy watching, but very worth watching. The production is stunning, arranged in the round and drawing a rich world with very few props. The acting is intense and heart breaking. A devastating, gorgeous show about resilience, community, and yearning for what was lost.