Come From Away – Phoenix Theatre

Come From Away continues at the Phoenix Theatre, London.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

There’s something about living on an island which makes a community feel somewhat special. 

For Britons, that feeling has of late been taking a negative turn: distrust and abuse of those who are different, and a political process that seems hellbent on severing ties with lands across the waters with little more than a hope that something better may emerge.

For the people of Newfoundland, their islander spirit had the opposite effect. When the 9/11 attacks happened in America and US airspace was shut down for several days, 38 planes and some 7,000 passengers were diverted to the small Newfoundland town of Gander, whose airport was once a vital transatlantic refuelling stop.

The husband and wife composing team of Irene Sankoff and David Hein took this remarkable event and, after extensively interviewing those involved in the town’s welcoming of all the “Come From Aways”, as their visitors were known, created a 100-minute musical from their research.

The result is not some piece of verbatim theatre – characters are composited and events streamlined in ways that, say, Alecky Blythe’s London Road would never have countenanced. But the result instead carries its own sort of truth: a reminder of the fear and uncertainty of those days in 2001, and how love and friendship are forever their more powerful foes.

The 12-strong cast each perform a number of roles, from Newfoundlanders to aircraft passengers. Christopher Ashley’s direction ensures no confusion exists, though: while rapid changes of costume – a jacket here, a hat there – signify a change of character, it is the actors’ distinct performances which clarify the action, and make it feel as if a whole town has doubled in size on the Phoenix’s small stage.

The multitude of individual stories that comprise the whole helps cement Come From Away as a truly ensemble show. Standing out, though, is Rachel Tucker, who is granted the show’s key solo as she plays Beverley Bass, the pilot of one of the grounded planes.

Bass’ own backstory would be fascinating enough even without her involvement in this tale of post-9/11 catharsis: obsessed with flying from a young age, she rose to become American Airlines’ first female captain, standing up to sexism and prejudice along the way. All of that history – and the heartbreak her character feels that her beloved airplanes have been converted into weapons by terrorists – is perfectly encapsulated in the number ‘Me and the Sky’, which is performed with Tucker’s trademark emotional precision.

Elsewhere, seams of comedy are mined throughout, as the passengers find that having their lives turned upside down reveals emotional truths. Robert Hands and Helen Hobson provide a sweetly romantic subplot, as Hands’ workaholic Englishman finds himself falling for Hobson’s Texan divorcee.

And while David Shannon and Jonathan Andrew Hume’s gay couple, Kevin T and Kevin J, are initially played for laughs, the effect of the destruction on Brooklyn-born Kevin J’s doorstep exposes the existing fissures in their relationship in ways that feel refreshingly, believably honest.

Hume also plays Ali, an Egyptian whose Muslim faith immediately inspires mistrust from others, especially some American passengers. Even the welcoming Canadians take more time to welcome him into their fold. Sankoff and Hein take care to not wrap up that story completely: Ali’s eventual departure is tainted by an invasive and humiliating body search that no other passenger endures, and points toward the shift in attitudes that would pervade in the years afterwards.

But the biggest emotional gut punch comes from Cat Simmons as Hannah, the mother of a New York firefighter who is missing after the World Trade Center collapse. Her bonding with Jenna Boyd’s Beulah, herself the mother of a fireman, encapsulates the meeting of town and stranger into a single relationship, and Simmons gives her strongest performance when the truth of Hannah’s son’s fate is determined.

Whether delving into the depths of tragedy or celebrating the highs of a community built on mutual trust and support, Sankoff and Hein’s Celtic tunes lend the spirit of a Ceilidh throughout. 

Come From Away is a celebration of the healing power of doing good deeds without hesitation. Eighteen years on from the events that inspired it, it feels like a story we need more than ever.

Scott Matthewman

Tickets for Come From Away are available HERE.