Around the World
IN EIGHTY DAYS
A super abundance of ingenuity and
boundless imagination is at the heart of
Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty
Days. The play set in 1872 delights
audiences with an old fashioned,
picaresque adventure that craftily and
with much humour imparts information
about geography, time zones, customs,
and there’s a gripping race to beat the
clock with an obstructive dim Scotland
Yard detective on the tail.
An English gentleman Phileas Fogg,
correct if a little clinical, bets his fortune
on a wager at the Reform Club. Worked
out to the last detail with his Bradshaw’s
timetable of trains and steamers, he is
sure of his calculations, but of course
88
THE POCKLINGTONIAN
he doesn’t take the unexpected into
account. Nor that he will be mistaken
for a bank robber. His slippery valet,
Passepartout, is the perfect comic
sidekick. His wily skills embrace
martial arts, circus performance,
opium immunity and more: he seems
invincible, as is Fogg in his conviction
and his winning at whist.
Last June Lower School pupils
successfully circled the globe in their
version of Around the World in Eighty Days
in a hectic 120 minutes! Portraying
over fifty characters the cast launched
themselves around the globe with
lightening ferocity. Trains, boats, sleds
and even elephants were conjured
in front of our eyes by the actors and
simple, effective props wheeled on stage
helped audiences to be transported
from country to country. Zac Stewart
played the quintessential chivalrous
English gentleman with great skill and
his slippery valet, Passepartout played
by Tom Mc Dowell was the perfect
travelling companion. Zac’s cool Fogg
melted in response to the charming
and intelligent Mrs Aouda beautifully
portrayed by Lucy Grewer. Henry
Hudson’s superb playing of Inspector
Fix foxed and fought Tom McDowell’s
belligerent, clown-esque Passepartout.
During their travels they met all sorts
including the quirky, flamboyant Ms
Fotherington (Phoebe Anderson) who