This is Scott’s last expedition; his attempt to return from the South Pole to the safety of Terra Nova. The bravery and sufferings are enacted: Scott and Bowers, the naval officers with total faith in the system; Oates the cavalry officer, reluctant and sceptical, who make the definitive sacrifice; Wilson the doctor, whimsical and artistic, and Petty Officer Evans, Welsh and lower deck, always the odd man out.

The play, which contains an extraordinary blend of realism and fantasy, with Scott recalling his formidable wife Kathleen, and conjuring up his rival Amundsen as critic and commentator, is by an American author little-known here until his Oscar-winning screen-play for The Silence of the Lambs.