‘All At Sea’, a new fictional dark comedy stage play inspired by the infamous 2002 ‘Canoe Man’ scandal, is coming to Live Theatre this month. It’s written by acclaimed, award-winning Newcastle-based playwright Alison Carr, whose previous works include ‘Iris’, her recent BBC screenwriting debut ‘Doppelgänger’, and ‘A Street Like This’, which features original songs co-written by The Futureheads’ Ross Millard.
The drama brings audiences the darkly humorous tale of middle-aged married couple Colin and Deborah, who are drowning in debt and desperately scrambling for a lifeline. Sound familiar?
What became known as the John Darwin disappearance case has been dramatised for television, as well as scrutinised through numerous documentaries and podcasts. But ‘All At Sea’ isn’t a generic retelling of those notorious events. Instead, it’s a fictional play inspired by them, featuring a hapless, down-on-their-luck duo and their not-so-cunning plan to fake a fatality in order to fraudulently obtain insurance money. Carr promises audiences fast-paced darkness, conflict, surprises and twists.
The two-hour-long performance is directed by theatre director and dramaturg Maria Crocker, who has worked her magic on productions across the UK and proudly describes herself as a ‘working-class Northern theatre director and deviser’.
‘All At Sea’ presents a slightly more sentimental take on its thematic inspiration, plunging audiences into the dark depths of the human psyche, the pressures created by modern societal demands and the disastrous consequences that playing dead can have on a marriage.
Tickets, priced from £18.00 in advance, are available from live.org.uk.
