Poles Apart

Poles Apart’ proposes a recreation of Captain Scott’s journey to the South Pole in 1911/12. We plan to travel the same distance as Scott’s team (almost 1800 geographic miles) and for the same total number of days (150), re-imagining the journey for a contemporary audience by staging the expedition in and around London. Originally developed with funding from LIFT, we are collaborating with the National Maritime Museum to take this forward.

Captain Scott is an increasingly potent figure in British cultural life, painted as either a tragic hero or a hopeless failure. He has become an international battleground. The way in which Scott is viewed is an issue relating to how we view ourselves and how we come to terms with a neo-colonial world - not because of who he is, but because he is a type. Scott is a benchmark against which we can test how we have changed in almost a century. What does it mean to be British and a Londoner? What has changed in our ethical and spiritual lives as citizens?