Insuffolk.com Review

Although Dark Earth wattles themes of love, duty, ignorance and social conscience which it then daubs onto a story set in the Fens in 1690 it is the earth itself, or more accurately earth and water, and the connection with them which lie at the heart of this engrossing piece of site specific theatre.

The arrival of a Puritan Dutch engineer, Jacob De Vries, who has been engaged by ‘the Partners', a group of local dignitaries and landowners, to drain the Fenland and turn marsh into meadow is the spark from which the drama in Dark Earth ignites. New love affairs burst into life and old ones flare again as the Fenland villagers resist the destruction of the environment which has housed and fed them for generations. Superstition and an innate knowledge of their surroundings are the methods the villagers initially use to halt the digging but when this proves ineffective more direct methods are employed causing the Partners, led by local lord of the manor Robert Warburton, to call in the troopers amongst cries of ‘insurrection' and ‘trespass.'

Forbes Bramble's story is engaging from the start and despite a near Shakespearean run time of 2 hours 45 minutes never once had me checking my watch and wishing for it to end. The cast, who are entirely amateur and drawn from the communities around Flag Fen where Dark Earth was staged, are universally good with some individual performances of real merit. Lucy Formby, who plays De Vries sparky daughter, bored with making lace and increasingly resentful of her Father's demands for obedience, is tremendous, grabbing the attention in every scene she is in whilst also adding life to the lines of the actors around her; I hope Eastern Angles have taken her phone number.

The rekindled love affair of the blacksmith Clara Hare, played by Rebecca Owen Fisher, and Partner John Sylham, Peter Thomas Unwin, had real chemistry and tethered Dark Earth emotionally as Sylham struggled to find the peace between his love for Clara and his duty toward his family and fellow Partners, whilst Hare herself desperately tried to reconcile her passion for the man with her equal passion for the land. Their doomed love possessed real poignancy.

Jonni Hilton was convincingly agonised as the archaeology obsessed Vicar, Emms, who attempts to balance his position as a Partner in the company and pastor to the villagers but ends up pleasing neither and Carl Perkins, although initially a little diffident, was by the end striking the right note of self-important bombast as Robert Warburton. A mention also must be made of Ben Stroud as Warburton's son Richard, who was entirely loathsome before he had even uttered a word.   The clarity and simplicity of the villagers purpose provided an excellent counterpoint to the wrangling machinations of the Partners with Roland Pickett as Ecclesiastes and Brian Haswell as Felix particularly amusing; a pair from whom it would be easy to imagine the Kipper family are descended.

However as great the contribution of the cast and story to the enjoyment of Dark Earth were, that of the staging and puppetry were their equal. Nicky Bunch designed the set which allowed the fluidity of the Fens to be manifested within a marquee and Polly Beestone the gothic-esque puppets which conjured the wild spirit of the Fenland, both benign and threatening whilst these individual parts were stiched into a greater whole with the strong sense of story-telling which Naomi Jones brings to any production she directs.

I had a 150 mile round trip to see Dark Earth on a night of the worst weather for six months; it was worth every second and every mile. I believe it is the best piece of site specific theatre Eastern Angles have produced since The Wuffings and my only regret is that there are no plans for it beyond this short run. You should catch it whilst you can - no matter where you live.

Steve Hawthorne