Beyond The Breakers, Lowestoft Journal

They got a bit of weather tonight - prophetic words because the intrepid Seagull Theatre patrons had to battle through a blizzard on Wednesday to see Beyond the Breakers ... and they were not disappointed.

Directed by Ivan Cutting it tells the story of a fishing family who were also members of an RNLI lifeboat crew.

Hangdog (David Redgrave) is a lifeboat man of the old school and an even older fishing family.   In his day they fought hard for their place in the crew, weathered storms, sands and sea in their mission to save lives and never turned back.  Gripping drama takes you through a docudrama of the history of the lifeboat from the old days of pull and sail through to the modern motor launches of today.

The cast of five all put in strong performances and their Norfolk accents are very authentic.   I particularly enjoyed Angela Ward's strong portrayal of Sarah, a very modern miss who had to act as a buffer between the old ways of Hangdog and her cousin Denny (Dean Lepley) and the more modern faction of Kevin (Peter Stickney) and Jimbo (Andy Wisher).

The drama was gripping, the humour ironic and very real - Roger Eno and Pat Whymark sympathetically arranged the music with the cast's harmonic singing a few folk-style songs blending beautifully and the use of a minimalist set was extremely effective.

A fast moving production - well worth braving "a bit of weather" for.

RD, Lowestoft Journal