Come From Away, YAOS at Westlands, Yeovil

ALMOST 25 years on, it is still impossible to avoid a tearful gasp at the thought of the events of 11th September 2001, when almost 3,000 people were killed in four co-ordinated attacks on the USA by Islamist terrorists. But in a resilient world, inevitably there were good outcomes for the lucky few, and among them were the residents of Gander in Newfoundland and their neighbours, who played host to more than 7,000 displaced air passengers, grounded in the immediate aftermath of the planes hitting New York’s World Trade Centre.

Since 2017, thousands more people around the world have seen the musical stage phenomenon Come From Away and learned about the international strangers whose 38 planes landed in the remote corner of Canada. Now the extraordinary show has been released for amateur production, throwing a serious challenge to singing, dancing actors. And it is a challenge that has been eagerly taken up by the multi-talented members of Yeovil Amateur Operatic Society.

The show tells the individual stories of several of the residents, passengers and crew, as well as the wider community that was formed, and still continues with regular reunions. For a fluid cast of around 14, that means 90 non-stop minutes of singing, dancing and creating vivid characterisations as the hours of isolation turn into days.

The music, taking from Newfoundland’s well known folk and Celtic influences, fills the auditorium with pulsating sounds, broken by poignant ballads as passengers and crew wonder in vain about the safety of their loved ones, and the locals turn their back on petty history and pull together to help their unexpected guests. It is all too easy to forget that 38 transatlantic planes would carry Muslims, Jews, vegetarians and vegans, pregnant women (and rare chimpanzees!), the old, the young, the lonely, the terrified, and everyone else between, all waiting for news, and for a chance to get home.

Naomi Rose-Mock directs the Yeovil production with a keen eye for movement and character, and musical director Matt Holman-Holmes leads a very different, and very skilled, band, different from those players usually rounded up for a YAOS production.

It is essentially an ensemble piece, by the end of which everyone in the audience wants to sing about becoming a Newfoundlander. Outstanding are Karen Pankhurst’s Beulah and Helena Reid’s Hannah, parents of firemen, Elly Driver’s Beverley, the first female commercial pilot, Jennifer Brewer and Ed Creswick’s Dianne and Nick, Duncan Wright’s mayor, Sian Spencer’s tentative reporter, Nick Harris’s Kevin and Garth, Rob Reid’s endlessly suspected Muslim chef …. and many more.

It’s a great show, and it makes the most of the wide open spaces of Westlands, temporary home of the company while the Octagon is refurbished. It’s on until Saturday, and it is well worth the journey.

GP-W

Photographs by Len Copland

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