DIRECTOR'S NOTES

It seems extreme to truly risk one’s life for adventure. But for some, testing their physical limits to the point of risking death brings a profound sense of feeling present and alive. And for many mountain climbers, K2 stands out as the ultimate test; a kind of mythic challenge.

 

Patrick Meyers’ play is unique not only for its amazing setting and visceral theatricality, but also because it touches that sense of myth. On a frozen ledge at the edge of human possibility, two friends who are like brothers struggle with mortality and themselves. Their words are overshadowed by their circumstances and choices. And as the day proceeds from dawn to dusk and each makes life and death decisions, their story resonates with a primal sense of being alive.

 

I’ve read that people of the Karakoram region regard the mountains with deep reverence and awe. This calls to mind John Muir, Thoreau and others who have written passionately about the wilderness, and how it can teach us all how to live. K2 is also about learning how to live.

 

Yet finally, this play evokes for me me the story of Cain and Abel; and then turns that fateful myth into something else: a tale of brotherhood that brings dignity to mortality and hope for a life redeemed.

 

I hope you enjoy the ride.