David Egan’s play Tom's a-cold is one of the scripts selected for this year’s OUDS (Oxford University Dramatic Society) New Writing Festival.
**CONTAINS SPOILERS!**
Set in 1848 in the Canadian Arctic, the performance opens with the familiar strains (at least to my Canadian ears) of Stan Rogers’ ‘The Northwest Passage’. Two sailors (Tom and George) from the Royal Navy are rowing in a lifeboat, apparently having abandoned ship. It transpires that they are part of Sir John Franklin’s expedition in search for the Northwest Passage, and are now rowing south towards King William’s Island. It increasingly becomes clear through their dialogue that there is something bizarre going on – and in fact the boat is not actually at sea, but rather lodged in moss (or perhaps ice) and that they are quite delirious. They have been abandoned by their shipmates, possibly to be rescued again by them soon. Bit by bit the story of what has taken place is revealed – from leaving the London pier, to the ships being locked in the ice, the hunger, and finally the cannibalism. The two share moments of longing for home, for food, for those they have left behind and the closeness and comfort of each other. They also rage at each other, and contemplate death, as well as the possibility of each other as a meal.
Egan employs foreshadowing throughout, which builds up to the revelation of cannibalism, and ultimately the fate of the characters. Even the title of the play, ‘Tom’s a-cold', is ominous, referencing a madman in Shakespeare’s King Lear. The play is threaded with biblical references, culminating in the literalisation of the Eucharistic ‘this is my body, given for you’ as a parallel for the consumption of human flesh.
Interestingly, the two actors had their scripts on stage and referenced them throughout, whilst still maintaining their dramatic dialogue. The props were minimal, and it seemed like some things were being mimicked because they were just being imagined (e.g. food). The level of incoherence occasionally demonstrated by the characters, presumably their delirium, was occasionally confusing; however it captured the oppressive insanity of their predicament.
Egan, the director and his cast have done a good job with Tom’s a-cold, and it is an interesting and enjoyable performance.