The Man in the Green Boots
A Play in Development
The man in the green boots sits alone
at the top of the world .
27,900 feet high.
He is perfectly still, frozen to the spot.
His life claimed by the mountain he came to conquer.
Summiting Everest has been hailed as one of the greatest human achievements, a triumph of determination over adversity. But there are over 200 bodies on Everest, many of which are used as markers for those attempting the summit. ‘Green boots’ is perhaps the most famous, preserved beneath the Hilary Step, gingerly stepped over by every climber trying to summit. A man, a marker, a fallen climber, lost in the 1996 Everest disaster. Until two years ago, when he disappeared.
This Research and Development period aims to explore the atmosphere of the 'Death Zone', 27,000 feet high, where the air is so thin that mountaineers suffer from oxygen deprivation, snow blindness and often complete delirium. We want to create a vast mountain landscape in the Barbican Pit theatre. To experiment with soundscape, projection and physical theatre to create a dream like world where some senses are magnified, others useless. The audience will travel through this world, following a surreal soundscape, catching traces of stories caught on the wind. As peaks rise and fall revealing epic landscapes and intimate moments of physical storytelling.
Development will take place 14th-18th November at the Barbican Pit Theatre as part of their Open Lab program.