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Cruel Sea

Published Thursday 19 July 2007 at 12:15 by Chris High

Cruel Sea is an energetic, heartfelt, moving and humorous voyage through the memories of Merchant Seamen at sea during the dark days of the Second World War. But it is much more than this. Spliced with the real-life accounts of veteran seaman shown on two giant screens this dramatic and musical piece of work manages to capture the indomitable spirit and comradeship of these unsung heroes of the conflict. At times the audience laughed out loud, at others was moved to tears by the exploits of these men. Nostalgic as the piece is it never descends into sentimental. Even less celebrated than the deeds of the white seaman were those of the black and Chinese sailors aboard British merchant ships and the prejudice and injustice shown to these men is embodied here in the characters of Sam and Song, played by Zain Salim and the brilliant Nick Chee Ping Kelington.

Devised originally as a three year national reminiscence project by Age Exchange the memories and recorded documents of these indomitable men has been crafted into a marvellous work of theatre by talented Liverpool writer, John Fay.

The play follows the story of Dicky (Kieran Lynn) and Sam, two young Scousers who, following in the footsteps of their fathers, sat sail for the first time on the treacherous cargo run between Liverpool and the New York, a run menaced Nazi U-boats, then at the peak of their nefarious sinking of British merchant shipping.

The cast is superb throughout, the set and lighting, sparse and inventive. A must see.

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