Mary's Boys

This new musical play was a very moving experience, telling the true life story of the Mary Stanford Lifeboat Disaster which occurred on 15th November 1928 in Rye Bay East Sussex.  There was a lot of fun in the piece too with wonderful singing by all the cast.  The fishermen were in fine voice from the very beginning and the women too made an excellent sound.  All those on stage were well cast and the Musical Director was Darren Vallier who was also the writer of this innovative play, together with Gaynor Newnham and Michelle Pollard.  The three piece band made an excellent folk sound which never overpowered the singers.  The clever scenery looked simple but was very impressive.  An amazing scene when the lifeboat was launched which I'm sure sent shivers through many members of the audience as we knew that these brave men were not coming back.  The end of the piece was very emotional indeed when pictures of those who were lost were shown on a screen with the voices of some of their relatives, even more so for me as my Grandfather's poem, "Heroes All," written at the time of the disaster was also shown and recited.  Many congratulations are due to the writers, to Director Michael Bale and all involved in this production.  I do hope it will reach a wider audience in the future.

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