Fram (play)

Fram
Written by	Tony Harrison
Date premiered	10 April 2008
Original language	English
Subject	Fridtjof Nansen's arctic exploration and campaigning for Russian famine relief
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Fram (Norwegian for Forward) is a 2008 play by Tony Harrison. It uses the story of the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen's attempt to reach the North Pole, and his subsequent campaign to relieve famine in the Soviet Union to explore the role of art in a world beset by seemingly greater issues. It is named after Fram, the ship built for Nansen for his Arctic journey, and subsequently used by Roald Amundsen to reach the South Pole.

Fram received its premiere at the Olivier auditorium of the Royal National Theatre, London on 10 April 2008. The National Theatre's production was directed by Tony Harrison and Bob Crowley; its cast included Jasper Britton as Nansen, Mark Addy as Hjalmar Johansen, Sian Thomas as Sybil Thorndike and Jeff Rawle as Gilbert Murray.

The play starts in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey in London, where the ghost of Gilbert Murray enlists Sybil Thorndike to join her in his new play, Fram, at the Royal National Theatre. They travel from the Abbey to the theatre to begin the play, and it starts in the Arctic with Fridtjof Nansen and his suicidal alcoholic companion Hjalmar Johansen trying to reach the North Pole.

It skips forward in time to after Nansen and Johansen's record has been broken. In despair, Nansen becomes desperate, and Johansen shoots himself. Nansen then goes on to try to help the victims of the Russian famine, though he is haunted by the ghost of Johansen. Nansen associates with Gilbert Murray and Sybil Thorndike in his attempts to support the work in helping the children in Russia.

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