Further than the Furthest Thing

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The play premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1999, followed by London performances at the National Theatre in 2001. Over two decades later, Jennifer Tang directs the play at the Young Vic, starring Jenna Russell. Where is Tristan da Cunha? Since “furthermore” also acts as a conjunctive adverb, you can use it to join two independent clauses together ( source). To use “furthermore” correctly, replace it with “in addition.” If your sentence still makes sense, then “furthermore” is the correct word. The story takes us from a volcanic eruption to mass evacuation and the forced exile of its islanders. It is an example of colonial conquest in miniature, which chimes with the real-life plight of the indigenous population on the Chagos Islands. There are further plotlines that reveal the island’s own murky secrets and a troubled past romance between Francis and the unhappily pregnant Rebecca (Kirsty Rider).

The play opens with Bill Laverello, the island's minister, swimming in the caldera lake of the volcano which dominates the island; he leaves the water as tremors rise from the volcano. The play then moves to Mill Laverello's house, where Francis Swain, the nephew of Mill and Bill, meets Mill, having, unusually, left the island for roughly a year. After an awkward conversation, during which they are joined by Bill, who is deeply disturbed by the tremors and believes himself to have witnessed supernatural activity, Francis reveals that he has invited Mr Hansen, a factory-owner who he introduces as his friend, to the island. It becomes apparent that Mr Hansen wishes to build a factory on the island, the economy of which had, up to that point, been based entirely on subsistence farming and fishing. On a remote island in the middle of the South Atlantic tremors disturb the surface of the volcanic lake, but the small population are more concerned with matters above ground. An outsider wants to build a factory that he says will bring work and prosperity to the whole community. However, not everyone agrees and some question his real motives? Behind this other, darker secrets lie concealed, waiting to erupt and blow the community and their way of life apart. It's supposedly set in 1961 and based on the real-life eruption of Tristan da Cunha but you couldn't tell from watching it. It lavishes in ambiguity seemingly taking place in an indistinct fairy-tale like purgatory somewhere between reality and make believe. Its sparse in-the round-staging has minimal props and takes place on a fittingly porridge coloured stage, a colour that matches its mostly beige tone and pacing.That’s especially true of a staging as alert as this one to the imaginative reach of a text that unapologetically makes demands upon its audience: quite a few spectators disappeared at the interval, though those who stayed proffered a rousing response at the bows. Gilmour’s turntable design proffers an amphitheatre given shape and depth by Prema Mehta’s lighting and George Dennis’s sound design: joint contributors to the arresting otherness of the occasion.

Tang and a gifted design team, headed by the seemingly ubiquitous Soutra Gilmour here in minimalist mode, stage events in the round, with audiences encircling the action, and actors who sit between scenes in the aisles, directly next to playgoers. Let’s test your knowledge again. Read the sentences below and decide if “farthest” is correct in each context. When you use “farthest,” it is good to remember that you should use the word for measurable distances. Whether it’s in meters, miles, millimeters, or gigaparsecs (3.26 billion light-years of distance), “farther” should be your go-to term ( source). Example

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Part of the confusion between farther and further lies in the fact that these words can be adverbs, adjectives, or verbs, and the differences within each part of speech. In a play all about home and community, Further than the Furthest Thing shows what it means to support one another. In a four-star review on London Theatre, "[the play] exists within the context of larger, impersonal forces — colonial misrule, for one thing — that flavours a play that may seem elusive at first but coalesces in the mind after the fact."