We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea, Classic Boat Magazine

The theatrical adaptation of Arthur Ransome's We Didn't Mean to go to Sea opened last night in Ipswich, just upriver from the fictional Goblin's home port of Pin Mill.   It's the latest production by regional touring company Eastern Angles.

The novel, which centres on four children cast adrift in the North Sea in a small yacht and sailing to Holland, translated remarkably well to the stage, thanks to the skills of director Ivan Cutting and, particularly, designer Rosie Alabaster.   Her ‘exploded' and semi-abstract boat gave the opportunity to move the action freely between the cockpit, foredeck and cabin.    Projection effects, sound, lighting, and excellently-chosen music enhanced the atmosphere of danger and challenge as the crew faced threats from storm, shipping and their own anxieties and self-doubt.

The strong cast of four who played the children, John, Susan, Titty and Roger (as well as doubling ingeniously as Jim, their parents and the pilot) made the most of the emotional squalls as the two older children strove to determine the right thing to do - go back or go on - and then accomplish it, and the more immature response of the younger pair who couldn't decide whether they were having an adventure or ‘going to get into trouble.'

Adapter Nick Wood skilfully stripped the plot to its essentials and at the same time brought out the underlying humour of Ransome's character treatment.

The first night faced a stiff test from an audience that included what Wood nervously thought of as ‘the Ransome police' - chairman of the Nancy Blackett Trust, regional chairman of the Arthur Ransome Society, owner of Ransome's Peter Duck (moored alongside the waterfront marquee theatre) and others.   He needn't have worried;  all agrees that it was a resounding success, faithful to the spirit of the book, but with a hugely enjoyable additional dimension.

Classic Boat Magazine