Up Out O' The Sea: Eastern Daily Press

Writer Andrew Holland's title of this production gives little clue to the tense emotional drama you are about to witness as you settle into your seat at the Seagull. With a cast of five, minimal but evocative set and a superb script, the audience are quickly transported to a small town on the Suffolk coast still coming to terms with the double tragedy 20 odd years before of the sinking of a ship and the loss of the town's lifeboat and crew.

What is it that leads Carrie (Laura Harding), a Londoner, to the town and who is Emily (Lisa-Marie Hoctor) and the mystery of her death in the same storm that sank the lifeboat?

An excellent cast bring out the pathos and humour of a community united in loss - Mike Aherne is excellent as Dolphie the only survivor of the lifeboat crew battling the demons of survivors guilt and a deeper guilt that only becomes apparent as Carrie digs deeper into the story of the storm that sank the Grath Hede and the town's lifeboat before laying her own past to rest.

This first performance of Up Out ‘O The Sea got the 2011 Eastern Angles tour off to a cracking start, the performance subtly drawing the audience into the action until you could have heard pin drop so great was our concentration following the twists and turns of the characters' lives. This is live theatre at its best - television is dull in comparison.

Rhonda Deal