Ploughing the Salt Sea – a Must-See!
CAF FEAN
Ploughing the Salt Sea is a unique home-grown solo show, crafted by singer-songwriter and composer Bev Lee Harling.
Hastings born-and-bred, Bev never knew her maternal grandparents: her mother, Jan, was adopted at the age of nine. “She was a very secretive person and never spoke about her parents or family,” Bev explained. “After she died, I was left with holes in my understanding of who I am and where I belong.”
Bev began to plug the gaps, recording conversations with her father about her mother’s past, researching her family tree and visiting local museums. In the grip of these stories, Bev devised a performance influenced by traditional folk music and the comical and tragic stories she was uncovering about her Hastings fishing family.
Ploughing The Salt Sea represents a culmination of this research. Bev tells of a great uncle lost at sea; a dastardly grandfather running amok with the law; a great great grandmother, proprietor of several net huts down on Rock-a-Nore; the decline in her own mother’s health. She shares precious memories, real and imagined.
Supporting the show is a team of award-winning artists and professionals including Portugese choreographer Arthur Pita, costume and set designer Simon Daw and composer and sound designer Frank Moon. Local artist Mae Dewsbery is the show’s producer and host – the team have rehearsed, rested and sheltered at her wonderful cabin in the leafy grounds of The Beacon on the West Hill.
Director and dramaturg Mo Cohen has partnered Bev throughout; as dramaturg, her job is to provide the cast and crew with vital knowledge and research about the performance. Together they have worked through the more emotionally challenging parts of this journey of self-discovery, allowing difficult themes to be distilled and re-interpreted into a compelling one-woman show.
Bev Lee Harling’s show promises to beguile, dismay and delight. Revealing and celebrating the lived experience of women of Hastings through the ages. Blending modern and ancient musical instruments and genres, the show will cast Hastings in a new light with plenty for the staunchest historian to the newest of newbies to enjoy.
Ahead of the show, local people are invited to participate in a creativity workshop, where you will explore Hastings’ history, female ancestry and transformational storytelling. The workshop will be on Saturday 27 May 10.30 – 12.30 at the Stables Theatre: ploughingcreativity.eventbrite.com
Following the show launch at The Stables Theatre, Ploughing the Salt Sea will be touring coastal towns.
Catch Ploughing The Salt Sea at The Stables Theatre on 12/13 June. For more information visit thestablestheatre.co.uk
You can support Bev at buymeacoffee.com/bevleeharling and follow her touring schedule on instagram.com/bevleeharling
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