Shackelton’s Carpenter

Harry McNish was the carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackelton’s ill-fated Endurance expedition, which saw the ship destroyed and the 28 crew stranded in Antarctica. Because of his confrontations with “The Boss” the Scot was one of only a few who Shackelton refused to recommend for the Polar Medal. Years later, stranded on a wharf in New Zealand, Malcolm Renée’s embittered McNish swings from tragic retrospection to drunken ranting, erring a little too much on the latter. But this one-man show has a lot of heart, even if it’s soul is very heavy.

The Old Market, 26 April 2015

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