Come From Away at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin
So I had some thoughts on the musical that got me through studying for finals, which was a big task I might add!!
Being set in the days following the devastating 9-11 attacks in New York City this production tells the unlikely story of planes full of all sorts of people diverted to a small island off Canada called Newfoundland and how these people interact with the locals; and how the locals accommodate these people who “come from away”
So first things first, when I heard the show was only 1 hour and 40 minutes long with no interval I thought, hold on, what is going on? You mean I’m not going to had a mid show gin & tonic!!!!! Alright ok, let’s see what you’ve got then! Well this couldn’t have been a better length, any longer and the cast would have fatigued and the energy would have been lost in an interval so there’s the first correct decision made for this show especially as I didn’t take my eyes off the stage for a single second!!!
Let’s talk about the cast now, a small cast of just 12 did not leave the stage for longer than a few seconds, which reminds me of the Brechtian style drama I did as a student while at school, which was a nice little throwback for me! That cast did not break character for the full length of the show and what made this an even harder feat was that they bounced between characters so seamlessly and with such ease you had to stay focused just to keep up, bravo cast, I can only imagine how exhausted they all must be!
The range of emotions I experienced throughout this whole show was exactly what theatre is about! How you can sit with your heart breaking over a mother who can’t get a hold of her fire fighter son in New York City one minute to the next being taken to something similar to a lock-in I have only experienced in Ireland! This is something that film, tv and even live music can’t achieve; and that is exactly the beauty of theatre, something that this production managed greatly!
The biggest achievement I feel this production should be proud of is that for the entire length of the show I felt a part of the cast and the story which can be extremely difficult to do, possibly the Abbey theatre’s size leant itself to creating this feeling and I can only hope that this audience experience isn’t lost in the move to London!!!
During these uncertain times all over the world, the story told of how unlikely friendships, relationships and even some joy came from something as horrendous as those attacks in 2001 is exactly what the world needs right now. Anyone who needs to feel uplifted at all I would recommend going to see this show as even in the most dire circumstances in life, lightness and joy can arise!!! So get yourselves to the Phoenix Theatre in London’s west end to laugh and cry(mostly through laughing)!!!
