COME FROM AWAY, EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE ****
Telling the stories of the first female American Airlines captain, of a quick-thinking town mayor, of the mother of a New York firefighter and of a local news reporter, as well as those of their friends and neighbours in Gander, Newfoundland, Come From Away is beautifully powerful piece of theatre that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in the face of the unthinkable.
As the skies were cleared and flights grounded in the wake of the 9/11 atrocities, nearly 1,500 miles away from New York, Gander welcomed more that 6,500 strangers into their population of 10,000 for five days, the result of 38 passenger planes were diverted there. In the first couple of hours after the attack on Manhatten’s Twin Towers, Gander’s airport, normally lucky to have six flights a day, saw 19 aircraft land on its runway causing the Mayor to declare a state of emergency and the local community to focus on ensuring their unexpected guests were looked after.
If there’s any doubt we are in Canada, the Newfoundland accents have a strangely Irish lilt, that’s quickly laid to rest by the Mayor’s daily trip to the local Tim Horton’s for his morning coffee, but then Come From Away is based on the actions of real people, and comes with all the ordinary, everyday interactions of daily life as well as the fear, anger, love and hope born of finding themselves caught up in the extraordinary.
Laugh out loud in parts and so chilling as to send involuntary shivers down the spine in others, Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s combined book, music and lyrics play out like an old school concept album brought to life. Simply staged on a fixed set with little more than scattered chairs and a smattering of props, the ensemble cast flit between characters, painting a joyous, devastating, yet eerily detached retelling of one of the most seismic events in recent history.
The 12-strong ensemble is led from the front by a supreme Amanda Henderson as Beulah and the inimitable Nicolas Pound as Mayor Claude, both command the stage and bring an extra bit of magic to proceedings whenever they are the focus of the action.
Kinetic direction keeps the story unfolding at a pace over the 100 minute running time of the show, although there’s a niggling feeling that the lack of interval not only enforces urgency of the narrative but also disguises the odd drop in momentum where the storytelling drags, not least as overt religiosity ensures one scene is anything but subtle, overly sentimental and little more than a modern trope.
As with the cast, the eight strong band, under the baton of Phil Cornwell, is an incredibly tight ensemble too. Playing everything from bodhran to bass, guitar to mandolin and bouzouki, fiddle, violin and accordion, not forgetting harmonium, whistles, Irish flute and Uilleann pipes, these consummate musicians are phenomenal. Ever-present yet unobtrusive until their spectacular curtain call, they bring the house down and evoke a deserved and spontaneous standing ovation.
The toe-tapping Celtic country strains of Sankoff and Hein’s score is immediately infectious and full company numbers such as Welcome To The Rock, On The Edge and Somewhere In The Middle Of Nowhere are as anthemic as you will find in any musical. Boasting scintillating harmonies and moving solos, musical director Andrew Corcoran has teased out the best of his cast – their communal singing is second to none.
Few who lived through 9/11, from however afar, will fail to find this gathering together of ‘the little stories that colour the bigger picture’ anything other than an emotionally life-affirming experience. It’s a true ‘must see’ musical… to paraphrase one particular lyric, ‘Stop the world, seize the day, you really should book now for Come From Away’.
Runs at Edinburgh Playhouse until 21 September. Tickets here.
Full tour details and tickets here.
