It’s the tale of two brothers on a beach needing to figure out what to do with their dad – but the sea has other ideas. Mark and Tiny walk the shore of Seaton Carew in the north-east. Their dad is dying, and their town is crumbling. Family rifts and political divides try to pull them apart while a figure made of driftwood stalks the shore at night.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt,
00:04Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Really lovely to speak to James and
00:08Jerome about a fabulously intriguing, fascinating,
00:12powerful play which is coming to the Minerva in Chichester from February
00:16the 25th to March the 1st, a play about two
00:20brothers. Now, Jerome, you were saying people come in thinking it's all
00:24about death and grief, but it's more than that, isn't it?
00:28Yeah, it's about a lot more than that.
00:32I think it's about sibling relationships, sibling dynamics,
00:36the power of memories, how you perceive them within
00:40a family. There's a massive mythical element
00:44as well, which is all I can say without spoiling too much.
00:48And on the beach there's a real political pollution
00:52discussion with the Freeport sort of
00:56part of the expansive
01:00beach that is seen through. So loads, loads going on and
01:04I think Tim's brilliant writing
01:08just treads the line perfectly between… It's very, very specifically set in the
01:12northeast, isn't it? Yeah. The location matters, doesn't it?
01:16Massively. The way they talk to each other is so
01:20intrinsically northern. I remember saying to Tim that the script's brilliant because
01:24I've never had a script that feels like it just fits
01:28the way that I talk. You being from
01:32the country? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Being from the northeast, it's not often you get
01:36a script that just sort of fits in and the thoughts are already
01:40there for you, really. And James, the point is these are two
01:44contrasting brothers, aren't they? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
01:48They are very
01:52different in almost everything, in their
01:56view on politics, on their view of their family,
02:00their upbringing, their memories,
02:04the place in which they grew up. I mean, my brother, my character, sorry.
02:08He moves away. He hasn't been back for a long time.
02:12He doesn't really enjoy being back for a multitude of different reasons that you kind of start to find out.
02:16But there is one thing that is lovely is that you do
02:20see these very, very different people throughout the course of the play kind
02:24of reconnect with their similarities
02:28and the love that they do have at the root of it all.
02:32And James, it's very intense from the sound of it, given that there are
02:36just the two of you. That brings its own pressures, doesn't it?
02:40The two of you are creating pretty much everything.
02:44Yeah, I think it does. I mean, it is a joy
02:48as an actor and especially, you know, Jerome and I get on so well, it's great to work
02:52with each other. But it is, especially with no interval as well.
02:56The audience don't have any escape from us.
03:00So there is a sense of, to say what Jerome said earlier,
03:04you kind of strap in and you're on for the ride and it moves.
03:08A lot happens in, you know, just an hour and
03:1225-ish minutes. And it really hopefully takes everyone on a big
03:16journey. So there is that sense of, right, we're starting and
03:20I'll see you at the other side. And hopefully, hopefully it goes down well.
03:24And Jerome is saying obviously deals with some difficult things, but
03:28moves towards reconciliation, there's hope, is there?
03:32Yeah. I mean, the path is obviously never easy. But,
03:36you know, Tim, again, really, really does
03:40within a lot of doom and gloom and a lot of sadness and pain, he does definitely
03:44find moments to, you know, put in real hope
03:48and real moments of human connection and the importance of family. So
03:52it gives you the best and worst sides of, you know, what it is to
03:56lose a parent and to,
04:00you know, have siblings and grow together
04:04and try and navigate those, you know, similar experiences
04:08once you're in adulthood. And geographically,
04:12Jerome, you're from the northeast, but you've been to a show
04:16in the Minerva before, you know, you're looking forward to it. James is almost
04:20a homecoming, isn't it? You're from Petersfield. It is. Yeah, I'm from
04:24near Petersfield. I was lucky to
04:28have a lot of my kind of teenage years growing up doing
04:32Petersfield Youth Theatre. I made friends for life
04:36and a lot of my family and friends are around the kind of Petersfield, Portsmouth,
04:40Chichester area. So it feels very full circle and
04:44very warm and lovely being able to come back and perform there.
04:48Fantastic. We're both ends of the country meeting in the Minerva. Really
04:52lovely to speak to you both. I'm very, very much looking forward to seeing the play.
04:56Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much. Thank you.