Play Summary - An Air Balloon Across Antarctica

Powerful and poignant, An Air Balloon Across Antarctica tells the story of Caitlin Evans, a female explorer travelling across Antarctica in a hot air balloon to scatter her son’s ashes, accompanied by Ham, a lemming trapped in a hamster’s body. Armed with an identity complex, an addiction to breakfast cereal, and a willingness to accept the surreal, this unlikely duo undertake a journey across hostile terrain, battling memories and wandering souls in the search for inner peace and the blankest space on earth. Balancing levity and gravity, absurdity and aching realism, An Air Balloon Across Antarctica is a breathtakingly beautiful piece of theatre exploring the edge of the earth and the edges of ourselves.

An Air Balloon Across Antarctica premiered in October 2004 as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, enjoying a sellout season and a positive and enthusiastic response from audience members and theatre critics alike.  The production was also nominated for a coveted Green Room Award in the category of Outstanding Writing in Melbourne Fringe / Independent Theatre 2004.

In 2007, Three to a Room took Darragh Martin's script to a new director and production team for a fresh perspective on the beautiful piece, with the intention of taking it to the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  The production was equally well received in both Melbourne and Edinburgh, achieving a nomination for the Fringe First award, garnering extremely strong reviews, and generating much interest from international theatre promoters.

Critical acclaim for Three to a Room's production of An Air Balloon Across Antarctica:

To read these and other full reviews, please see the An Air Balloon Across Antarctica entry in our Past Productions section of this website.

To see some excerpts from the script, click here.