I HAVE been struggling to find superlatives that adequately describe Frome’s Merlin Theatre production of Come From Away, on stage until Saturday 19th July. It is breathtakingly marvellous, powerful, poignant and astonishingly skillfully and soulfully done by both the 12-strong cast and the musicians in the ten-piece band.

We will never forget the worldwide impact of the 11th September 2001 terrorist attacks on the USA, a moment that changed all our lives. But for the inhabitants of Gander, Newfoundland, and the almost 7,000 passengers and aircrew diverted to its airport in the aftermath of the attacks, it was a very different experience.

Into the sleepy Canadian town on a beautiful day came confused and terrified people from all over the world, with different languages, different religions and each with an individual story – and all of them needed shelter, comfort and food for the indeterminate time they would be prevented from flying home. Irene Sankoff and David Hern’s musical Come From Away encapsulates those terrified days, creating an empowering, heart-warming and absolutely understandable story.

The mayor of Gander quickly realised he must gather the residents to help with the influx. The long-striking school bus drivers abandoned their industrial action. A suspicious and paranoid New Yorker was met with open hospitality rather than theft plans. A mother couldn’t get information about her NY fireman son. A pilot wondered if her plane would take off again. A pregnant bonobo needed special food. A lonely Englishman found love ….

All those stories, based on real events during the terrible five days after the planes hit the Twin Towers, are told in this extraordinary show, which draws its musical inspiration from the true sound of Newfoundland, deeply rooted in Irish and French folk tunes and rhythms.

In the “old days’ an amateur company taking on this show might have cast at least 30 (probably even 60) performers to take on these roles. But at Frome this amateur company, many of whom have demanding day jobs followed by hours of rehearsal, perform it as written, with just 12 performers taking multiple roles, sometimes changed by just a different hat or scarf – and each character is meticulously differentiated.

They are Dora Bishop, Tom Burge, Tabitha Cox, Alisa Creaser, Matt Dawkins, Davey Evans, Matt Graham, Lou Knight, Rich Pugh, Daisy Weir, Kevin Withers and Victoria Withers, and each one of them makes an indelible mark on the story. The band, under the musical direction of James Finbow, is James on keyboards with Helen Altoft, Theresa Cole, Tim Fosker, Alex Gray, Debbie Guy, Alex Kemp, Jeremy Morgan, Emily Pieczko and Nigel Shires. Abi Holmes has choreographed the company to perfection.

Merlin Theatre Productions’s Come From Away is eye-watering. It is impossible to fight the tears at many moments of this marvellous show, and every element of it, performed by an amateur company in a small-town theatre, breath-takingly good.

At the time of writing, there were about a dozen tickets left over the three nights of Merlin Theatre Productions staging of Come From Away at the theatre at Frome College campus – and I urge you to get one if you possibly can.

GP-W

Photographs by Dave Merritt Creative