Mallory: Beyond Everest

On the 8th of June 1924 George Mallory and Andrew Irvine vanished into the mist on their final push toward the unconquered summit of Everest. They were never seen alive again and passed into mountaineering legend. Whether they were the first to climb the mountain is a debate that still rages. What if Mallory had survived the mountain, what ghosts would have haunted him?

Mallory: Beyond Everest has been developed from a new one-man play written and first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe by actor and mountaineer John Burns. Directed by Melissa Paterson and Catherine MacNeil the play has now been developed further as part of the Play Pieces program and expanded from its original format to include another role.

With music produced for the performance by Bob Pegg and including original film footage of the 1924 Everest Expedition, shown by kind permission of the British Film Institute, the play provides a fascinating insight into the mind of a man torn between his love for his wife Ruth and his relentless, burning desire to be the first man to reach the highest point on earth. Beyond Everest is a human story told with humour and passion.