Tom Crean – Antarctic Explorer – 3Olympia – Review

Pat Moylan Productions & Play on Words in association with 3Olympia Theatre – 25th July to 5th August 2023
Writer and Actor – Aidan Dooley

“Hear the riveting true stories of Crean’s Antarctic explorations as one of the few men to serve with both Scott and Shackleton and survive three famous expeditions: Discovery, (1901 – 1904); Terra Nova (1910 – 1913); and Endurance (1914 – 1916).”

We meet Tom Crean (Aidan Dooley) as an older man. He walks out to the centre of the stage and greets the audience, talking directly to us. He then takes us on a journey through his three major expeditions to Antarctica. We hear about Robert Falcon Scott’s 1911–1913 Terra Nova Expedition. Later, we are taken on Crean’s third and final Antarctic venture, where he travelled along with Ernest Shackleton on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Each journey was fraught with danger and the crew members had to improvise and endure extremes of temperature to survive. While the journeys themselves are legendary, this quiet and unassuming man tells us the tales with a touch of humour and a wry grin!

Amazingly, this is the 20th-anniversary tour of this production. It started as a short 15-minute piece at London’s National Maritime Museum’s Antarctic Exhibition South in 2001. The writer and solo actor Aidan Dooley then developed it into a full production, similar to what you’ll see today, which is nearly two hours long with an interval. It is unusual for a monologue to run for over an hour, but Dooley seems relaxed and natural on stage. The production premiered in 2003 at The Medway Fuse Festival and later at The New York International Fringe Festival. It was first performed on Irish soil at the Dublin Fringe Festival, where it picked up a Best Actor Nomination. Since that time, it has toured extensively including a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006, where the show won a Fringe First Award.

It is often the smaller details that really bring the production to life. We see Tom Crean dress for the freezing conditions in the Antarctic, and it’s not as you would expect. While his garments are capable of resisting the freezing wind, they are loose fitting as you do not want to sweat, as the moisture will freeze once you stop moving. These small touches make the production seem more real with the obvious first-hand experience of the various source materials, including Michael Smith’s book about Tom Crean; Unsung Hero.

While plays can become classics and enter the repertoire, it is rare that a single production has this type of longevity. I doubt if you spoke to Aidan Dooley twenty years ago, he could have imagined he’d still be performing it today. It has the feel of a chance encounter with this remarkable man, where he reveals aspects of his history. Yes, you could just read the book and it does go into greater depth than a two-hour piece of theatre could provide, but Dooley’s performance makes the whole experience come to life. He plays Crean as an honest and forthright man, but also with a playful side. He has a thick Kerry accent and he never misses a chance to take a swipe at the natives of Cork, Dublin or London! Dooley has devoted his life to making sure the life and times of Tom Crean will never be forgotten, and it’s compelling to hear the story of this remarkable man.