Claimed to be the ''untold story everyone should know'' Everest Untold tells the story of the less well known members of Edmund Hillary's famous 1953 Everest expedition. Writer Gareth Davies tells Rebecca Fox about his fascination with the story.
Gareth Davies fascination with the time Edmund Hillary conquered Everest began with his birthday.
He was born the year Everest was conquered and the fact it took until the 1950s for anyone to do that fascinated him.
"We'd created the atomic bomb, the nuclear bomb, broken the sound barrier, a couple of years later put Sputnik into space and yet the highest rock on the planet had not been climbed. How the heck did that happen?''
Then at a literary festival he heard an adventure book writer talk about the pictures taken by George Lowe on the climb.
"I remember thinking 'Wow, it wasn't just Ed'. This really open my eyes to the role George Lowe played and I thought people in New Zealand should know a bit more about George Lowe as it had become the Ed and Tenzing [Norgay] show.''
It inspired him to track down as many books on the Everest climb as he could, especially those written by or about the 13 members of the successful team. He read "a good portion of them''.
"For me it was interesting to see how much of a team effort it was. To see how much luck and fate was involved. It could have been different quite easily.''
There were people who had gone before who had only just failed.
Davies, while not a climber, had also travelled to Nepal on many occasions for his "day job'' as an economic development consultant, a role he had stepped into having been inspired by Sir Ed's aid work in Nepal.
"I met Ed. He was quite a character with a great love of Nepal, and for what we in New Zealand could do for the country.''
He then set about writing a one-man play about George Lowe and his role in the Everest expedition.
It tells the story of how the climb began, why Everest had not been climbed previously, why things happened the way they did.
"A lot came down to chance, like any sport. When you see the play you realise how close it was to being a completely different story. But Ed was such a great climber that, given the chance, he grabbed it with both hands.''
A review of the play led to another member of the team being added to make it more dynamic. Hence British Army Colonel Sir John Hunt, the expedition leader played by Stephen Lovatt, enters the play.
"It's an interesting match - the upper class Englishman with the Hawkes Bay larrikin.''
Lowe is played by University of Otago theatre studies graduate Edwin Wright, who starred in Manifesto 2083, which played at the Fringe Festival earlier this year.
One of the early films made of the expedition was bylined "starring John Hunt with Ed Hillary''.
"Now you'd be hard-pressed to know the name.''
However, back then conquering Everest was big news in Britain. "It was do or die'' for the British as there were other nations that could have stolen the glory.
"The weight of the nation was on his shoulders.''
Other members of the team are also highlighted - the physicist, geologist, doctor, cameraman, mountaineers and the Nepalese sherpas.
The play has been performed at the Q Theatre in Auckland, Auckland Live at the Aotea Centre and Circa before Arts on Tour.
It is now touring 18 venues around New Zealand, including Dunedin, Alexandra and Invercargill.
"I'm really pleased. It's getting the story of George Lowe out there. I'm please for George Lowe's family; a lot have come to the show.''
To see
Everest Untold, Fortune Theatre, Dunedin, July 16-17; The Cellar Door, Alexandra, July 30; Repertory House, Invercargill, July 29.
