In this early television play, a celebrated mountaineer is coerced into leading a politically charged expedition to conquer a mysterious peak.
Michael Forsyth Ransom (William Devlin), a brilliant but reluctant mountaineer, is approached by the British government with a request of national importance. He must lead a team to be the first to climb F.6, an unscaled mountain on the volatile border between two colonial territories. Ransom initially refuses, seeing the venture as a propagandist stunt. However, he is masterfully manipulated into accepting the mission by his politically ambitious twin brother and by an appeal to his own deep-seated desire for glory. The ascent becomes a perilous psychological trial, forcing Ransom and his companions, including David Gunn (Barry Barnes), to confront their inner demons on the mountain’s haunted slopes.
This live television broadcast was an ambitious attempt to bring the avant-garde poetic drama of W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood to the still-nascent medium. The original stage play was a complicated, allegorical work, using its story of a mountaineering expedition as a direct critique of heroism, imperialism, and the political machinations of 1930s Britain. Transposing its non-naturalistic structure and verse dialogue to the television studio would have been a formidable technical and artistic challenge. The production stands as a significant document of the BBC’s early commitment to serious, artistically demanding theatre, presenting a work of potent political subtext to its small but growing audience.
Broadcast: BBC, 1 Episode, 31 May 1937
Written by: W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood
Play Production by: Royston Morley
Main Cast: William Devlin (Michael Forsyth Ransom), Barry Barnes (David Gunn), Norman Claridge (Ian Shawcross), Peter Ashmore (Edward Lamp), Philip Thornley (Doctor Williams), Stuart Latham (Announcer), Alan Aldridge (Monk)
