Harry McNish was explorer Ernest Shackleton’s carpenter on the ill-fated polar expedition ship, Endurance. 

Marooned on the dry land of a Wellington wharf and reduced to living in a wooden hull, Harry harangued his destiny.

Waving hands shrunken and crippled by frostbite, he raged at the ghost of his boss, one minute in salutation, the next in reflective contemplation. 

Whisky and tea were his only tangible companions: invisible to all but his imagination were cats, penguins, arctic seals and husky puppies.

Former shipmates crowded his dreams, friend and foe alike. Poignantly, he yearned for his dead wives and lost children. 

Malcolm Rennie took the stage as Harry in a role that required almost the courage and stamina of a polar expedition.   

Single handed, he conjured up the horrors and the beauty of the polar landscape in a theatrical monologue of rare dramatic quality. 

Gail Louw’s play asked questions to which there were no answers: did Harry mind never receiving a Polar Medal?  Why is Harry alone and destitute?  What will happen to him?

It was a tribute to the ability of Malcolm Rennie and the script of Gail Louw that we cared.