The other Kiwi on that Everest climb
Few people know that apart from Sir Edmund Hillary, another kiwi was involved in the famous 1953 Everest expedition.
Everest Untold
by Gareth Davies
Ffynroc Productions
May 20 – June 4
Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre
Auckland
“Well George, we knocked the bastard off” was Sir Edmund Hillary’s famous line after summiting Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.
But for many Kiwis, the person whom Hillary’s unpretentious quote was directed towards is relatively unknown. George Lowe was in fact the ‘other Kiwi’ in the Everest story. A fellow expedition mate from Hawke’s Bay who spent his holidays climbing in the Southern Alps where he met Sir Edmund Hillary, it was Lowe who suggested they give the Himalayas “a go.”
Everest Untold climbs onto the Herald Theatre stage with the extraordinary but little-known story of the 1953 Everest expedition leader Brit Sir John Hunt and Kiwi George Lowe. The play will expose their collective dreams, personal sacrifices and the part each played in the successful summiting of Everest.
Written by Aucklander and businessman Gareth Davies, whose international consultancy company Vinstar aids in providing economic and information technology, Davies is no newcomer to the theatrical stage. Everest Untold is his fifth play and the second that has been staged in New Zealand, having had plays performed at the prestigious Hay Festival in the UK. Nepal Memories was performed in the 2015 Auckland Writers’ Festival.
Starring Stephen Lovatt (Angels in America and The Book of Everything) alongside Edwin Wright (Manifesto 2083 and Slow West) and directed by Toby Leach (Wheeler’s Luck), Everest Untold promises to be intimate and illuminating theatre for all New Zealanders.
The play tours nationwide in July and will have a season at Circa in Wellington in June.
Tickets are available from Ticketmaster
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Antonina Elliott
Fri, 13 May 2016
Fri, 13 May 2016
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The other Kiwi on that Everest climb
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