Seafaring men came to Dublin's Temple Bar to hear again how the great maritime hero, Tom Crean, survived the Antarctic.
Paddy Barry, skipper of a re-enactment of the famous Shackleton rescue mission from Elephant Island to South Georgia in the Antarctic Ocean, came on opening night of the play this week.
"It's very moving", he said. Mountaineer Frank Nugent, who was part of that expedition in 1997, was also at the performance.
Aidan Dooley, the young UK-based actor and writer of the play, who was born in Galway, has "captured the spirit of the thing. It's tremendous. You feel you are meeting Tom Crean", said Barry. "Crean was extraordinary in his endurance, his humour and his resourcefulness."
Dr John de Courcy Ireland, one of the country's leading maritime historians and now in his nineties, had his own little expedition before the play began - he walked across the city to the theatre from the Westland Row DART station. De Courcy told of hearing Ernest Shackleton speak in London in 1920 about his expedition to Antarctica.
Dooley's portrayal of Crean has already earned him the award for the best solo performance in the New York Fringe Festival last August.
The play brings to life Crean's story of his 36-mile solitary trek to base camp to rescue his comrades Teddy Evans and William Lashly for which he was subsequently awarded the Albert Medal for his bravery. RTÉ's Tom McSweeney interview with the actor after the show will be broadcast later in the year.
Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer runs until Saturday, September 27th, at the New Theatre, East Essex Street, Dublin, as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival