“It is impossible to pick out a single player for just as your imagination is captured by one, another perfectly realised character slides into place.”
“This is an embracing, warm theatrical experience which has travelled well from the far away stages of London and New York, thanks to the assured directing of Christopher Ashley and the musical staging of Kelly Devine”
Kate Stratford
4 /5 Screechings-in
Every region has a music tradition, a blend of sounds which reflects its history. Newfoundland, an island off the east coast of Canada, has just such a strong musical reference; reflecting its Irish and Celtic roots. Is it also infused with a strong seafaring tradition, giving it an identifiable style all its own. It is this particular musical tradition Irene Sankoff and David Hein have drawn on in their award-winning, feel-good musical Come From Away. The sound is realised by a band of eight, playing Celtic and world instruments. Their work is a brilliant metaphor for what happened in Gander in the days following 9/11.
Most of us know where we were and what we were doing on September 11th, 2001 when the unimaginable (at least to Westerners) happened. The 21st century was now shaped by the extreme impact of a rare and unpredictable outlier event. As airspace closed over the USA and hundreds of planes were left, literally, hanging in the air, a small community opened its hearts and homes to the 6,579 passengers of 38 planes which were directed to land at Gander in Newfoundland, which had a largely dis-used airport, once the hub of the great circle route between New York and London. The strategy (as said in the musical) was not to saturate Toronto or Montreal with these stranded planes. Vancouver took the brunt along with Halifax (Nova Scotia) in second place.
Twelve actors play all the townspeople and stranded passengers, flicking from accent / nationality / age and religion in a breath. It is an extraordinary feat of ensemble work; particularly when moving from the dense, almost indecipherable accent of Newfoundland to that of a Texan, or Egyptian, or Englishman – fascinating work by Joel Goldes, the dialect coach. A jacket or a shirt or a hat and a whole new persona suddenly takes centre stage. It is impossible to pick out a single player for just as your imagination is captured by one, another perfectly realised character slides into place. It is not a new idea, but perhaps the most cohesive form of this sort I have ever seen and it is reflective, like the band, of the importance of recognising how our mutual humanity trumps nationality.
Whenever and wherever there is a disaster, politicians bray about how the people of their nation pull together like no-one else, but the truth is, as expressed in Come From Away, that it is simply humans reaching out to other humans in need. Of course, the underlying question is – would be we as generous of our time and possessions as the people of Gander were? Or would we fall prey to the fears engendered in us by the preachers of xenophobia and nationalism and refuse to help those who are superficially different? Those who do not speak as we do, or look as we do, love as we do or believe as we might?
This is an embracing, warm theatrical experience which has travelled well from the far away stages of London and New York, thanks to the assured directing of Christopher Ashley and the musical staging of Kelly Devine. You may even have a watery eye moment. Or two.
Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
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