Post by joem on Apr 16, 2017 20:30:16 GMT
Wth an interesting location and theme, the eroding coast of Suffolk and how much should be done to preserve it, this play has some decent writing but needs a bit more clarity and oomph to take it to another level.
The stage is wonderfully done; a cobble beach with a half-buried Second World War pillbox which, helped by a stiff breeze from a wind machine, almost smells like the sea. it helps get you in the mood of the piece. There is a lot of banter between Ruby and Lucy, the two teenage girls, which sort of establishes their relationship as the separate daughters of the two parts of an estranged relationship but is perhaps overlong.
The central issue in the play, the council's refusal to support the protection of the beach without which the two families will lose their houses to the sea, should be brought in earlier. Ruby is an interesting character, on the surface a couldn't-care-less, irresponsible girl with no solidarity but deep down possessing a huge sense of place and commitment to it. Her dad Jim is a paler version of "Jerusalem's" Johnny "Rooster" Byron - combining drug-taking with, in this case, singing old sea-shanties.
The problem is that it ain't easy to build an audience's sympathy on unympathetic characters and the characters here develop a bit too slowly. The second act is punchier, the characters are better defined by now and easier to identify with, and the narrative aspects build up a head of steam. The first act would benefit from being rewritten to take this into account and to give us more clarity and more flesh on the characters.
Far from unworthy effort.
The stage is wonderfully done; a cobble beach with a half-buried Second World War pillbox which, helped by a stiff breeze from a wind machine, almost smells like the sea. it helps get you in the mood of the piece. There is a lot of banter between Ruby and Lucy, the two teenage girls, which sort of establishes their relationship as the separate daughters of the two parts of an estranged relationship but is perhaps overlong.
The central issue in the play, the council's refusal to support the protection of the beach without which the two families will lose their houses to the sea, should be brought in earlier. Ruby is an interesting character, on the surface a couldn't-care-less, irresponsible girl with no solidarity but deep down possessing a huge sense of place and commitment to it. Her dad Jim is a paler version of "Jerusalem's" Johnny "Rooster" Byron - combining drug-taking with, in this case, singing old sea-shanties.
The problem is that it ain't easy to build an audience's sympathy on unympathetic characters and the characters here develop a bit too slowly. The second act is punchier, the characters are better defined by now and easier to identify with, and the narrative aspects build up a head of steam. The first act would benefit from being rewritten to take this into account and to give us more clarity and more flesh on the characters.
Far from unworthy effort.