Steve Pratt talks to actress Jane of Arnfield about her decison to visit Everest during research for her new play Geneva.

SOME actors are prepared to go further than others in researching a role. Jane Arnfield's latest theatrical venture took her a long way - to Everest. The temptation is to call her new show The Snow Queen 2. Last Christmas she was playing the title role of the ice maiden in Northern Stage Ensemble's festive show. Now she's donned her snow boots again for Geneva, a one-woman show about mountain climbing.

This may strike some as an odd subject for a stage show but Everest climber Reinhold Messner, whom she met on a trip to Base Camp in May, could see the sense in it.

"He said he could see why we were making a piece of theatre because it's the same as climbing - you go through a door to a different world," she recalls.

The title refers to the Geneva Spur, an anvil-shaped black rib of rock fixed with ropes, so climbers can scramble up the steep surface. The spur starts at 24,000ft and is considered one of the last major hurdles before a summit bid can be made on Everest.

Arnfield, a member of the Newcastle-based Northern Stage Ensemble since 1996, has joined with director Richard Gregory, of Manchester-based Quarantine theatre company, to stage Geneva. The production at Newcastle Playhouse features video by John Alder and Alex Elliott.

A newspaper article about Everest sparked off her interest. Arnfield was interested in why people climb, what the risk is, and what it's like on top of the mountain.

"What I found is that people climb because it's fun," she says. "There's hardship and risk involved, but the main reason is because it's full of joy."

With 2003 the 50th anniversary of the conquering of Everest, that mountain seemed a good starting place for her research. She raised £3,000 for the children's mobility charity, Whizz-Kids, to take her trip to Everest Base Camp. She was one of three women in the 17-strong party which also include an accountant, maths teacher, management consultant, nurse, doctor and unemployed person.

The flight to the mountain was "one of the scariest plane rides" but she embraced it as part of the big adventure. "I wanted to experience that epic feeling, the scale of things," she says.

"I thought if it's the 50th anniversary, everyone is going to be there. It was unbelievable bumping into these incredible people who'd climbed Everest. They were all very generous to me. I had just three questions - why do you climb?, what's the risk mean to you? and what's it like at the top?."

Those she interviewed included Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler, who scaled Everest without oxygen, and Jim Whitaker, the first American to reach the summit. She's talked to other mountaineers to gain information about climbing.

"Climbers are storytellers. They go up mountains and tell stories. They are funny or tragic, and you don't have to be on top of a mountain to have a story," says Arnfield.

What she couldn't do was climb herself. She was told it would take about eight years before she was ready to tackle Everest and only after training for ice and high altitude climbing.

She did go climbing with an expert in Northumberland because she wanted to experience it. "You could see Holy Island in the background, the Cheviots in the front and a beautiful crag. Some people do it because of the views. There were loads of people there, families with picnics.

"I'm not a mountaineer and there's no point in pretending that. But you can participate in something but not actually do it."

She and the rest of the Geneva team - including video film-makers and choreographer - spend several weeks developing the information gathered into a show.

"We thought about having a writer, then Richard said why didn't I write it? That's been very interesting for me. My father is a journalist, but I've never wanted to go down that road at all," she says.

"We've built up the play. It's true stories and quotes and my perceptions of what happened."

Arnfield is no stranger to unusual creative experiences. She's a member of the David Glass Ensemble and has worked on the company's project with children in Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Brazil.

Cambodia became a special place for her through her stays there. "I made some good relationships," she says.

* Geneva is at Newcastle Playhouse from Tuesday until January 17. Box Office: 0191-230 5151.

Published: 02/01/2004