New York, 1983. 46 pp. Softcover. Fine.
The complete text of the climbing drama that played on Broadway in 1983, K2 by Patrick Myers, A Play in Two Acts, with two male characters.
The synopsis of this play is simple: two long term friends/climbing partners have had an accident while descending the second highest mountain in the world. One is a family man and scientist, the other a hardened Assistant District Attorney.
It appears that you couldn't have two more diverse characters, and yet theirs is a friendship and partnership that goes beyond those words. The playwright allows the audience to find the good in the swearing, prejudiced lawyer and the strength and courage of the loving husband and father. The third character in the play, is, of course, the Mountain. The cold, unforgiving pile of ice, snow and rock which makes sure that the painful realities of life and death can not be overlooked.
Do not confuse this play with the movie by the same name! They used a total of five lines from the play and changed it to make a ''Hollywood'' ending. About the only good things about it were (as my friend the climber stated) ''the really neat pictures of Mt. Waddington.''
The movie left out the tremendous drama of the ending as written which also left out one of the most heartfelt and dramatic monologues I have ever read. I am very jealous - as a woman – I could never do it, because it is definitely a husband imagining saying goodbye to his wife and child. Be careful where you read this – I found tears streaming down my face as I sat in a restaurant reading the last lines.
Not for the faint at heart or for people who find offense in very ''bad'' language. The characters talk like climbers. This is one of its strengths.
