The Hudson Bay Epic is a contemporary folktale set against the frigid backdrop of Henry Hudson's final attempt to find the northwest passage. Part historical adventure, part mystical love story, the play weaves a tall tale of forbidden romance, hidden identities and wild folk magic.
In 1610, Henry Hudson departed England on the ship "Discovery" to chart the arctic sea and attempt to find a route to the Orient. When winter came, he and his crew were forced to settler at the southern-most tip of James Bay, enduring starvation and scurvy trapped in the ice. With the come of spring, Hudson's crew mutinied against him and set him adrift in a small boat, never to be seen again.
Alongside this historical narrative we have devised a fictional love story. Andrew Bosworth is a woman who lives as a man amongst the Discovery's crew. Thomas Woodhouse, an actual historical figure of whom little is know, discovers her secret and in turn falls in love with her. This pseudo-homosexual relationship ends (or begins) with the lovers surrendering their mortal bodies to the sea and being transformed into Beluga whales.
The play is staged in and around a ship-like structure made out of reclaimed materials. All of the songs and sounds of the tale are created out of the acoustic qualities of the set itself -a PVC pipe becomes the breath of whales, water in a barrel becomes the churning of the sea, a fire extinguisher becomes the deep resonance of the arctic ice.
In 1610, Henry Hudson departed England on the ship "Discovery" to chart the arctic sea and attempt to find a route to the Orient. When winter came, he and his crew were forced to settler at the southern-most tip of James Bay, enduring starvation and scurvy trapped in the ice. With the come of spring, Hudson's crew mutinied against him and set him adrift in a small boat, never to be seen again.
Alongside this historical narrative we have devised a fictional love story. Andrew Bosworth is a woman who lives as a man amongst the Discovery's crew. Thomas Woodhouse, an actual historical figure of whom little is know, discovers her secret and in turn falls in love with her. This pseudo-homosexual relationship ends (or begins) with the lovers surrendering their mortal bodies to the sea and being transformed into Beluga whales.
The play is staged in and around a ship-like structure made out of reclaimed materials. All of the songs and sounds of the tale are created out of the acoustic qualities of the set itself -a PVC pipe becomes the breath of whales, water in a barrel becomes the churning of the sea, a fire extinguisher becomes the deep resonance of the arctic ice.
Fringe Festival Reviews
