Programme

Excerpt from Preface to AmaZonia by Misha Williams

I shall refer to this wealth of newly released documents as the Secret Papers in order to distinguish them from the generally misleading information in the public domain.

"Exploration Fawcett"
The book that introduced Fawcett to the world in 1953 is thought to be an autobiography. It was the "Book of the Month" and was translated into many languages. In press reviews from Graham Green and Harold Nicholson, Fawcett's `story' was described as "reckless and inspired ... full of mystery, fortitude and doom... compares with Conrad's Heart of Darkness" etc...
The book was a blind and not written by Fawcett at all. The 'ghost-writer' was Fawcett's son Brian, who concealed a much more sinister truth. Why?

As early as 1928 a bitter rift
opened between the Fawcett family and the media. The North American Newspaper Alliance, Fawcett's main sponsor, decided to send an expensive expedition to find out what had happened. Commander Geroge Dyott, a Naval man with no jungle experience, was put in charge. Dyott set off from Cuiaba, ignoring vital information from Nina and reported that the expedition had headed north-east to the Rio Kuluene. Dyott claimed the Fawcett party had been clubbed to death by Kalapalos tribesmen because they had offended tribal etiquette.
The world press seized on this sensational story and have continued to repeat it up until today. Many rescue missions followed and by the 1930's the Mato Grosso was alive with young adventurers 'looking for Fawcett'.

In 1952 the famed Vilas Boas brothers, agents representing the interests of the forest Indians, invented a hoax to stop the white incursions. A (5'2) skeleton of an Indian elder was dug up and reputed to be Fawcett's, who was over 6'. Chateaubriand, a newspaper magnate, leapt on the story and flew Brian to Brazil, where he was invited to shake hands with the Kalapalos, 'his father's killers'.

What Brian Concealed
Brian, feeling anger and resentment following the treatment of his father, was determined never to reveal his father's actual objectives and if Brian were alive today I would never have been given access to the Secret Papers. He writes in Exploration Fawcett, "Fawcett's objective was to search for a lost city, Z, which still has the origins of our civilization and may even be inhabited".

Fawcett's actual intention, which Fawcett named 'The Great Scheme', was however to set up a colony of spiritually-inclined settlers in Amazonia, where his wife Nina and his closest friend Harold Large, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, had every intention of joining him. His second aim was to deliver his son Jack to the Earth Guardians of the Amazon as an initiate and, after his training, to install him as a founder and leader of a similar mystical colony in Ceylon.
See 'Jack' - Cast of Characters.

I should say that although the concept of Earth Guardians existing in the Amazon may seem improbable to most people, Alan Ereira, a BBC producer, found a lost city in Columbia in 1998 with a population dressed in white robes called the Kogi. They told Ereira that they were Earth Guardians, mankind's responsible elder brother, and that their task was to teach mankind how to treat the earth and how to advance in the right spiritual and nature-friendly direction.

Fawcett's Actual Route
The Secret Papers indicate without doubt that he never went north-east towards the Xingu but north-west from Cuiaba towards the Tapajos and its tributary the Jureuena.

The Cast of Characters

Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett Fawcett was born in 1867, son of a Regency rake-style father, who was a friend of the Prince of Wales. He rejected his parents 'racy lifestyle' and became a serious academic loner. Fawcett's parents thrust him against his will, into the army and his posting to Trincomalee in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) set his whole future on a unique and devastating course. Leaving his brother officers to their drinking and gambling, Fawcett would wander off into the interior to seek out ancient ruins and record hieroglyphs. He concluded that worldwide similarities indicated that early civilization seemed to stem from one source. Fawcett was influenced by the famous Helena Blavatski, a Russian aristocrat, who founded the Theosophical movement. By the 1890's, Fawcett's formative years, much of the intelligentsia of Europe and the United States had become ardent followers. He was undemonstrative with his children; his son Brian describes his feeling in the presence of his father as one of "uncomfortable apprehension, like being in the company of a well disposed but uncertain schoolmaster."

Nina, Fawcett's wife Nina was born in 1870 at Kalutara, sixty miles south of Colombo, Ceylon. Her father was Judge George Watson Paterson. The judge's house was on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Brian writes that, "through babyhood, the breaking waves sang their nocturne to her, till as a young child she went to her father's native Scotland to be educated." After her education she returned to Ceylon and a life of privilege. She met Fawcett at a tennis party and a courtship began. Her family disapproved of Fawcett and intervened, postponing their wedding for a few years. They had three children, who were to play a major role in the story: Jack, the eldest son was to disappear with his father; Brian, the despised and overlooked second son and Joan born in 1910 and still alive today. Joan put her faith in me and she and her daughter Rolette allowed me access to the family archive material. Fawcett nicknamed his wife `Cheeky' because, "she always had to have the last word". Lively and attractive, Brian described Nina as "bumptious". The formal society image of a judge's daughter is contradicted by Nina's increasing interest in seances and astrology and by her bohemian appearance.

Jack, the eldest son Jack was born on 19th May 1903, (Buddha's anniversary), and his birth was considered miraculous by Fawcett. Before Jack's birth, a deputation of soothsayers and Buddhists declared that Jack was a reincarnation of an advanced spirit. They went on to accurately predict the date of birth and various characteristics including a mole on the instep of his right foot. Fawcett wrote, "A remarkable feature about the boy, not shared by his brother or sister, is a slight obliquity of his eyes." On the family's return from the military hospital at Colombo, crowds lined the route venerating the newborn. Fawcett turned down the possibility of T.E Lawrence accompanying him in favour of his elder son. Feeling special, Jack spent time walking along the beach at Seaton, preferring his own company to that of the numerous young women, dazzled by his movie-star looks.

Brian, Fawcett's second son Brian's wit, intelligence and insight, that leapt out of his writing, were the major factors that led me to write this play. A master manipulator and communicator, he revived world interest in the Fawcett mystery and put his father back on the map as a distinguished explorer.

Ruth, Brian's wife Brian met Ruth at the British Embassy in Lima, Peru. He needed a companion who would be staunchly domestic to give him a feeling of security to balance out the strain of his intense inner life. Shy and retiring, she was in awe of most people and was at her happiest when she and Brian were playing chess together by the oil stove.

Raleigh Rimell, Jack's friend Raleigh was the son of a Seaton doctor and a most unlikely person to be caught up with the Fawcett saga, but was one of its primary victims. He planned to go to Hollywood to become a movie star and it seems that he believed he was going along on the expedition for an extended adventure holiday, before settling in Los Angeles.

M, an exotic female elemental M, an elemental, embodies the powers of nature. Like Carl Jung's own elemental, "Philemon", M explained to Brian the ancient wisdom. She instructed Brian which facts of the Fawcett story to reveal, conceal or distort. Brian's portrait of M in 1937 shows a young Celtic looking girl with vibrant blue eyes and black hair. The portrait of 1971 shows a woman in her early forties, strong faced, beautiful and timeless. She appeared to Brian in different guises and even in the shape of animals. She lived in the bungalow but would go off mysteriously to meetings with other siths on particular days of the year (dates which tally with Celtic Irish ith legends).

Albert de Winton and Jess These two are not entirely historical as the others are, although both are based on real people. The real Albert de Winton died in 1933. He was of British origin but had gone to Hollywood to become an actor and impresario. He gave up everything to look for Fawcett. His close friend Aida de Milt (who I have renamed Jess, saving the original for Jess's producer friend) was a staunch sceptic.

The script and full preface is available by clicking here. Click here to see the plays original promotional website.

Cast Order

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Production

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Grateful thanks are particularly due to
Fawcett's daughter and granddaughter:
Joan de Montet and Rolette de Montet-Guerin

We would like to thank the following for their help with this production:
Guy Arnoux, Tamara Barschak, Phil Green, James Hobson, Emmanouel Laleos, Barbara Levy, Patrick de Montet-Guerin, Sidney Moore, Jacqueline Straubinger, Col. Tom Welch, Prop hire: FDM (Colchester)

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Many thanks to our sponsors:
Dr Erhard Belonoz, Sir Robin Buchanan, Fiona Everitt, Michael Fiennes, Richard Johnson, Norman Keer, Mark Kingsley, Sylva Langova, Peter Laws, J.D.P Williams, Rosemary Younghusband

Act One

Act Two