White as far as the eye can see. Frozen mountains in the distance. Sunlight bouncing off the ice in all directions. A place devoid of life. A place where the only company available is one’s own memories. And even then, recollections can be lost to the tundra.

Patricia Cornelius’s Do Not Go Gentle follows the doomed 1911 expedition of Captain Robert Falcon Scott to the then uncharted South Pole. Yet something stirs under the ice. As the expedition becomes increasingly perilous, the explorers begin losing themselves. Past and present, memory and reality all collide in the barren white dreamscape.

The cast of this production features an ensemble of theatrical titans – Andrew Buchanan, Jennifer Flowers, Steven Grives, Christen O’Leary, Marilyn Richardson, Bruce Spence (who plays Oates and two other roles) and William Zappa as Scott. The performers play the men of Scott’s expedition and a group of older people living with memory loss at the end of their lives.

But which characters and moments are real? And which are imagined? The answer is left vague. Both realities exist simultaneously before us. The cast jump between being lost on Antarctic ice sheets and being lost in the halls of a nursing home.

Everyone delivers a spectacular performance, but it is O’Leary’s role as Bowers/Claudia that is particularly heartbreaking. Her anger, confusion and denial of her mental state are deeply real, inhabiting the grief and horror that families face when someone they love loses themselves to their own mind.

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This play aims to explore themes of resilience and ageing, and the extraordinary perseverance displayed in the final days of one’s life

Simone Romaniuk’s set design amplifies this theme of unstable memories. The stage is kept minimal, with a white floor and walls lined with mirrors. Hung from the ceiling are huge white gauze nets that function as distant mountains, tent flaps and bed sheets.

Nothing is made distinct. The set constantly shifts throughout the performance, never staying as one place for long. This lack of clarity and deliberate barrenness lends the stage an unreal quality. It is both the Antarctic plains and the failing minds of the characters all at once.

David Walters’ lighting plays a pivotal role here. Light pours through open doors and slices through the space, fracturing the characters’ sense of reality as they jump through time and memory.

This play aims to explore themes of resilience and ageing, and the extraordinary perseverance displayed in the final days of one’s life. And it undoubtedly succeeds. The characters are approaching the end as they freeze in the snow and aimlessly wander the halls of the memory care facility. But they still find joy and humour in these final moments — trying desperately to live, fight and love, even when their own minds conspire against them.

The play draws heavy thematic inspiration from its namesake poem, quoting it in the final scenes. But the play doesn’t quite reach the poem’s peak. Characters accept their circumstances too often, unable to “rage against the dying of the light”. They do not try to divert the course of fate, instead going with it, letting their final days be a shout rather than a roar.

But it doesn’t detract from the spectacle. Do Not Go Gentle is a triumph. Its fusion of Scott’s Antarctic expedition with an exploration of ageing is something that must be seen to be truly appreciated. Featuring an all-star cast complemented by superb set design and lighting, this production is unlikely to fade from memory.

Do Not Go Gentle plays the Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane, until August 30.

queenslandtheatre.com.au/plays/do-not-go-gentle

This review was written as part of  The Critical Writing Program, run in partnership with Queensland Writers Centre and InReview Queensland, supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of Education.