Further Than the Furthest Thing

by Zinnie Harris

On a remote volcanic island in the middle of the Atlantic, a community has lived undisturbed for centuries, defying the swirling currents of modernity and capitalism. Cut off and exposed to the elements, their survival has created a complex bind with their land. But when one of the inhabitants brings an outsider to the island, their way of life is changed forever.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Read For School, Drama

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2000

About the author

Zinnie Harris is an award-winning British playwright, screenwriter and director currently living in Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Parnian.K]

Stunning, wow!!!


Read twice in Feb 2024
Watched at Douglas College in Mar 2024
Performed a monologue based on it in Jun 2024

[Arnaz M]

Made me cry in broad daylight @ main library

[Doug]

The plot (based on a true story) is fascinating, the characters and dialogue exemplary - but this is in reality a SCREENPLAY, and would appear to be almost impossible to stage without it seeming somewhat silly (e.g., people miming swimming. one character who is pregnant having to appear totally naked, etc.)

[lauren]

"And even though we'll be in patches of earth on the other sides of the world, maybe it won't seem so far
Not so very very far"

[Erin]

*4.5*

[Bailey Tolentino]

I’d give it 3.5 stars if I could. It’s honestly really good and I liked the plot, but the dialect was annoying at times. I know that’s the point, but it made it harder for me to read. I imagine it’s more enjoyable to watch acted on stage.

[Caspar "moved to storygraph" Bryant]

Heard various reports so unsure going in. I'm with what Doug says on this one- a screenplay, not a script. There's challenging staging and then there's whatever is going on with Bill.

I didn't hate it! There are some neat ideas going on and I had fun reading into the oology, unnecessarily I'm sure. There's space to be had with applying theoretical lenses. It's unfair to describe an approximately true story as a second-rate Things Fall Apart but it did come to mind, and without quite the same interior perspective as Achebe.

I think the volcano-God ideas are nice. Jars, eggs all fun to read into for an essay, much appreciated.

So it's doable if not lovable.

[YN]

I'm not a play person, but there is just something about this play that gets to you. When I started this play, Bill reminded me of Willy from Death of a Salesman a bit, even though the story is different. The ending also killed me, for some reason, it just made me feel heartbroken. I'm not usually a play person because I feel like plays can be situated anywhere at any moment, whereas you get a better understanding of the 'world' you are in within a novel, but there's something about this play that just does it for me and makes me feel. I'll have to come back later and update my review when I study/annotate it in deeper detail

[Miranda]

This work took me a little bit to get into it, but I ultimately enjoyed it.

Further Than the Furthest Thing by Zinnie Harris is a play based on a real story and set in 1961 about this remote community from an isolated island as change comes to the island and they are forced to evacuate. I thought that the exploration of topics like assimilation and responsibility were done well especially when considering the small cast size. The reason why it took me a second to get into it was that good portions are written in dialect, but the playwright did an excellent job of making you feel for and dislike the characters. I’d recommend looking into this if you’re interested.

[Hannah]

(read for actor and text)

3.5
had a really good conversation about this play in class. it was slightly confusing in the beggining but I really got into the plot toward the end. heartbreaking ending. better when heard spoken, definitely a play to watch instead of read. had fun acting some scenes from this in class

[Rowan]

Harris writes in the preface that she departs greatly from the true story of the inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha, which is fair play for writing something fictional. But depicting the (devoutly religious) islanders committing mass murder and infanticide is such a bizarre and cruel choice. Not to mention deeply irresponsible, since little has been written about the islanders and she is one of the few non-residents with a personal connection to Tristan. It’s a shame that so many people will have been introduced to this unique place by a writer who resorts to shock factor to make up for a lack of skill.

[Chelsea Bondzanga]

God I hate capitalism. I absolutely loved this but it looks impossible to stage. I’m really not sure how they did it. Think this would make an amazing film though.

It did drag at points though and sometimes, I was bit confused as to what was going on with Bill. So closer to like a 3.8 but still enjoyed it.

&&

Leave the damn islands alone!!!

[Eden Leavey]

didn’t think i was gonna like this one but WOAH it hooked me! i’d love to see it on stage one day because i really can’t picture it with the sets, but it was a superb read. i really enjoyed the themes of (forced) assimilation, resource exploitation, nostalgia, and self-preservation.

[Sarah Allen]

Quite a raw, interesting, and touching play. I’m looking forward to digging into it more and it’s meanings.

[arden]

zinnie was off the shits with this one

[Anisha]

a good jarring

[mia]

3.5 tbh.. kind of ate

[Jake Van Hoorn]

The actual story that inspired the play is much more interesting than the play.