Further than the Furthest Thing

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This is a drama of dark secrets and portents. Before an unwanted pregnancy is revealed, precious eggs are dropped and smashed. A capitalist arrives on the island: he manufactures jars but makes nothing to put in them. Still, the interest lies not in plot, but in the evocation of place and manner. The unadorned nature of the inhabitants’ way of life is conjured in Soutra Gilmour’s design and Ian William Galloway’s videos: there is no domestic clutter; a sheet drawn across the stage ripples with Hokusai-style waves; Shapla Salique keens, beautifully if all-purposely. The dialogue still startles. Syntax is distinctive: “I is forgetting … ” As is pronunciation: egg becomes “hegg”; in the case of “Henglish” for English, this is used as a subtle display of irreverence. Jenna Russell embodies the idiom beautifully, with a Quakerish style: direct look, steady demeanour, fearless speech. She is the heart of a scattergun production and its main tug. To test your knowledge, read the sentences below and consider if “furthest” is correct in each context.

Zinnie Harris’s second play ‘Further than the Furthest Thing’ isn’t necessarily amasterpiece. But there’s much about it that is still compelling, and once it gets going Jennifer Tang’s Young Vic revival feels intensely worthwhile. I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now . . . Come further up, come further in! Farther or further from the truth The set design in Act I is relatively bare, save for the occasional furniture and props. It represents the ‘simple’ island life, a description mainland reporters use later in the play. The mood greatly differs in Act II, when the production crew introduces massive tables physically barricading the islanders in their spaces, evoking the experience of being trapped against their wills. Harsher and more defined lighting is also adopted in the second half, accentuating the struggles experienced by each character: inner conflict experienced by Bill who eventually succumbs to the guilt of contributing to Rebecca’s “miscarriage”, personal conflict between Francis and the islanders who find it appalling that they need to make appointments just to speak with him, societal conflict experienced by the islanders, who cannot fathom the idea of living in the city permanently. The performances are solid and the islanders’ naivety and bewilderment towards the outside world are well enacted. But the play takes time to build its intrigues, the pace is occasionally ponderous and the dialogue repetitious. Even if this is deliberate, it keeps us too much at surface level at times, and although the strands come together in the end, the play feels drawn out.It was inspired by Harris' mother's memories of her childhood, during which she lived on Tristan for a few years; the Faber edition of the play includes two poems written by Harris' grandfather, Reverend Dennis Wilkinson. [1] Since its premiere in 1999, it has been translated into multiple languages and frequently described as a "modern classic". [2] [3] Farther and further are comparative adverbs or adjectives. They are the irregular comparative forms of far. We use them to talk about distance. There is no difference in meaning between them. Further is more common: Further to my previous letter, I would like your thoughts on the quote and whether we should move ahead with the project. Tips for Usage

Second, when referring to something improving or making progress, then “farther” and “farthest” are not applicable. After a dramatic rescue, 264 were re-homed in Hampshire, but they never settled for the easy life on mainland England, and returned after a couple of years, only to face a devastating cyclone in more recent times. Without any conceptual footing, the script is brimming with wearily vague references to "the island" or "the war," "the ship" and the audience becomes lost. Lugubrious imagery and portentous, but severely undercooked, themes about immigration, sexual assault, abortion, and religion drown the production in a sea of its own ambition. Figurative distance — it refers to the progress of South Africa’s human rights laws compared to all other countries on the continent.It’s 1961, and a volcanic eruption displaces this remote populace to the comparative bustle of Southampton, where we find ourselves after the interval — an incident that actually happened to this one-time British dependency. What transpires is an empathically imagined investigation into what we mean by “home”, folded into an often-grim parable of acculturation. a b c Harris, Zinnie (2000). Further than the Furthest Thing. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-20544-5. That’s especially true of a staging as alert as this one to the imaginative reach of a text that unapologetically makes demands upon its audience: quite a few spectators disappeared at the interval, though those who stayed proffered a rousing response at the bows. Gilmour’s turntable design proffers an amphitheatre given shape and depth by Prema Mehta’s lighting and George Dennis’s sound design: joint contributors to the arresting otherness of the occasion. What changes is Hansen:heis set up as a two-dimensional capitalist villain, but is ultimately shown to be a man whose ruthless exterior conceals fundamental decency. As the islanders start asking questions about when they can go home, it’s his struggle with his conscience over whether to tell them the truth that serves as the play’s engine. His uncertainty stands in stark contrast to Russell’s excellent, force of nature turn as Mill. In one extraordinary monologue, she describes everything she can remember about the island: can a destroyed place exist ifonly asa memory? Perhaps to her it can.