Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Carl James Fowler, Carmel Skelly, Chris Douglas, Craig Sharkey, Dave Unsworth, Francesco La Rocca, Jim Welsh, Kirsty Taylor, Mike Mackenzie, Nicky Loftus, Pat Hart, Nathan Bates, Peter Bromilow, Rachael Reason, Rita Sharp, Robyn La Rocca, Steve Dagleish, Vera Farrell.
Musicians from the Halewood Choir: Maurice Wileman, Howie Blakeborough, Phil Dean, Pam Bovis, Jill Marquis, Joan Rutledge, Patsy McDonough, Hazel Brennan, Anne Dean, Liz Haygarth.
The fascination for the sea is something that is surely at the heart of everyone who lives in the British Isles. As a sea faring nation we are bought up tales of disaster, of heroism and of being so close to the balmy sands that line the waves that crash into the shore that the sea is a constant friend and potential enemy to all.
Grace and the Sea, the latest production by playwright Rob Brannan and performed by the Mate Productions ensemble looks at the life of those who have made their way over the years down to the beaches at Crosby and Formby, where in the 21st Century Anthony Gormley’s Iron Men stand guard against the tides of the sea coming down the Mersey and like Sirens of old call to the unaware to take photos of them.
Directed by Gaynor La Rocca, who also did a superb commanding job on The Yarn, Grace and the Sea is a slice of the moment, the ephemeral short-lived moment in which our footprints are caught between the grains of sand and the secrets that are held forever in the space. The passing of time in which we are here caught up in other people’s mess and destruction that on the odd occasion we find time to stare out to sea, there is the thought of hidden danger calling out our name.
Whilst this is one of those productions in which the play reflects the ideal of a community working together to bring something reflective and well produced to the stage there were some stand-out performances to take note of. Carl James Fowler’s portrayal of the young man whose life had hit the rocks after his father had died, the wonderful Rachael Reason as his mother, Kirsty Taylor for whom the room rejoiced in her every second on stage and the exquisite Carmel Skelly for whose own story was delicately placed but grabbed the soul of those watching in the Unity Theatre.
Mate Productions continue to be involved in innovative and interesting tales, weaved from life and unhindered by time; the beauty of the of the story is captured by the sheer desire that runs through everybody involved to the point where it overspills onto the audience with charm and decency. Like the blue, wild but seductively beautiful water that flows into the Mersey and past the Crosby and Formby beaches, Grace and the Sea is deep, meaningful and full of attraction; another hit for this fine community group.
Ian D. Hall