Up Out O' The Sea: Ipswich24

Up Out O' The Sea is the latest offering by Eastern Angles.  It tells the story of journalist Carrie, as she visits a sleepy Suffolk coastal town to research a 30-year-old lifeboat tragedy for a book she is writing.

As Carrie gets to know the locals, she soon finds out that there is more to the tragedy than meets the eye. Secrets, lost lives and loves are all dredged to the surface along with debris from the bottom of the sea.  Carrie soon discovers she has more in common with the people of the coastal town than she first thought, as they relive the tragedy and discover what really happened on that stormy night in the 1970s.

Up Out O' The Sea is another great production by Eastern Angles.  The small cast tell the story beautifully and all the characters are truly believable.

Laura Harding, brings much to her performance as Carrie, from a confident Londoner, investigating what happened all those years before, to showing a really vulnerable side to her character as Carrie discovers what really happened and how it relates to her own past.

Saltly Sea Dog Dolphie is a true Suffolk Coastal fisherman, with secrets of his own. Mike Aherne's wonderful performance draws you in to the emotions of the old man who lived through the tragedy and has been haunted by the memories.

Some light-hearted even comic moments come in the form of Tweedy.  Francis Woolf plays the part of the young fisherman beautifully, as the aspiring artist tries to find love and a life away from the sea.

Mrs Jope, the librarian, holds all the secrets to that night, when the names were drawn and the lifeboat men went to sea. Lisa Tramontin's powerful performance really moves you as she tells her story to Carrie, with some emotional scenes both in the past and the present.

A special mention goes to Lisa-Marie Hoctor, who plays both Emily in the past and Milly in the present, a fantastic performance that easily takes the audience from present day, to the 70s and back again. No easy task in a small company.

The strong cast tells Andrew Holland's story well, with many twist and turns along the way.  Up Out O' The Sea will make you laugh and it will make you cry as it moves to it's somewhat surprising climax as the secrets of the past come to light.