Production Notes for The Sutton Hoo Mob (Revival)

Welcome to The Sutton Hoo Mob by Peppy Barlow, a play we first toured some twelve years ago, but which really chose itself for this tour during which we will be hosting the Pride of Place theatre festival in Woodbridge. Not only was it a play with a unique sense of place, but things had changed enormously since we last produced it. 

I first commissioned Peppy’s play back in the early 1990s, following an entertaining talk I had heard from Bob Markham about the Ealing-esque finding of the treasure and the battles with the British Museum. Then, Sutton Hoo had just been returned by the archaeologists to its original state and was once again just a series of mounds in a remote field on the other side of Woodbridge. The indefatigable Sutton Hoo Society had a shed and organised tours but it was pretty low down on the tourists' hit-list. Since then it has risen to near the top, with the acquisition of Tranmer House and the arrival of the National Trust. It has a spanking new museum and restaurant and throbs with visitors. This time we can realistically mount performances barely a few paces from the original action.

Then, our production was also meant to serve as a warm-up for The Wuffings, the large-scale production we subsequently performed at Notcutts’ Pettistree Despatch depot in the summer of 1997. This told the seventh-century story of how Raedwald came to be buried like he was. My fear was that no-one would know who the Wuffings were, but The Sutton Hoo Mob introduced our village audiences to the idea and as a consequence a number of them came in coaches to see the larger show.

But The Sutton Hoo Mob was never just a comedy about finding treasure. Peppy’s play was also about people and how they manage to work together, about our own back-stories that influence everything we do, and about Basil and his fight for glory. I have to confess I probably put the last of those ideas first in my previous production and did ill-justice to some of Peppy’s ideas about Mrs Pretty’s own battles.  I remember well the year we produced it first of all because it was 1994 and the year of my sabbatical. After directing this play and then Kid, I jetted off to Canada and the west coast for four months' travel. I studied the native people’s art of the west coast and on my return wrote a bleaker version of The Reapers Year and prepared for The Wuffings. I also married, had children, moved house, and generally turned that corner in life where responsibilities take on a new dimension. I grew up. So I now return to the play with a different perspective. While the battle between Basil and the boffins of the British Museum still sits astride the show, Edith Pretty’s own story and her loss of her husband resonates better with me than before. Although I suspect it went deeper than I realised. For when Kevin Crossley-Holland and I sat down to plan the story of The Wuffings we had no first name for Raedwald’s wife. Kevin suggested Edith and we both went for it immediately.

As always with plays based on the truth, the “based on” factor grows ever more tenuous, especially in the rehearsal room as we tease out the characters on the page into something that will entertain audiences. So apologies to all our originals for stretching the truth just a little bit. Although I suspect Mrs Pretty would be pleased with her representation, she may be less happy, unlike us, with the fact that our sponsors are the East Anglian Daily Times, who scooped her chosen outlet, the Woodbridge Reporter. The EADT has been magnificent in their support and are truly celebrating what they still regard as one of the high points in their illustrious history.

Ivan Cutting

Artistic Director