| Beyond the Breakers | Beyond the Breakers is touring East Anglia until Thursday 9th June 2005. It is at the Sir John Mills Theatre in Ipswich from Friday 22nd April to Saturday 30th April 2005. It then continues to tour village halls in Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. Click on the Eastern Angles website for more information (link at the top right of this page) or telephone the Box Office on 01473 211498. |
This play is Eastern Angles at its best. Stories of heroism described in the words of those who were there, transformed onto the stage with brilliant direction and a strong cast of actors. Edited, written and directed by Ivan Cutting, he describes Beyond the Breakers as ‘like two plays crammed into one: there is the documentary material and the play.’ The preparation for the production took over a year. Many trips were made to North Norfolk to interview lifeboatmen, young and old, to hear their stories and to understand why the lifeboats spin such a strong thread through generations of families. These accounts are incorporated into the play, sometimes you hear the actual voices as they share their memories. So graphic are the descriptions of the mountainous seas and the rising and falling of the boat you want to sway backwards and forwards in your seat along with coxswain and crew on board. The staging was simple but inventively used and the scenes with the new inshore lifeboat incredibly realistic.  | | Angela Ward as Sarah |
Beyond the Breakers is a fast moving play, with stories of dramatic rescues interspersed with storylines from the fictional characters. The folk songs caught the mood exactly and the harmony of the five voices (four men, one woman) worked well. I must make special mention of David Redgrave, who plays Hangdog. Hangdog is a lifeboatman of the old school. He has the sea running through his veins. His family have been fishermen as long as time remembered and they have all worked with the lifeboats. David Redgrave’s portrayal of old Hangdog was outstanding. Through the gruff and bad tempered exterior the audience glimpse the gentle, humble man inside; they see the guilt he feels for his wife’s illness and the deep religious faith that has kept him going. Hangdog distrusts the way things are now done. In his day he lived by his instincts as a fisherman and put his trust in God. Jimbo helms the new inshore lifeboat and has to train the crew in the technology and safety instructions. Hangdog scoffs at the new style of training and says Jimbo’s training chart is ‘like the Brownies’. Many of the lifeboatmen from North Norfolk have been to see this production and have marvelled at how close to the real thing it is. The play has proved so popular that the tour has been extended into the first two weeks in June to include the Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh and Woolpit Village Hall. If you haven’t seen Beyond the Breakers already I urge you to go and see it. You won’t be disappointed, it is one not to be missed. If you want to see some of the rehearsal pictures or read more about the production go onto the Eastern Angles website. You will find the link at the top right of this page. | 
