Shelia's Island

‘You never really know someone till you go away with them’ could be the central theme of this dark comedy by Tim Firth known mainly for ‘The Flint Street Nativity’ and ‘Calendar Girls’.  Skilfully produced by Donnamarie Stamp, the play features a cast of just four women and is an adaptation of one of Tim Firth’s earlier works – ‘Neville’s Island.’  The play explores mental illness, office politics and survival under extreme circumstances.  

The set was stunning and deserved its applause from the audience as the curtain opened.  The whole stage had been transformed into a woodland scene, with painted trees surrounding the area, thick wooden tree trunks and real foliage to create a forest effect.  Even the stage floor was covered with thick layers of bark chippings and there was a clever use of an elevated platform which served as a tree lookout.   There were atmospheric sound effects of lapping water and birds calling, which all added to the overall ambience. 

We first meet the women, as they enter via a clever gap at the side of the stage representing the river Derwent.  Two sodden, bedraggled women dressed in hiking gear, crawl breathlessly onto the stage.  These are Shelia (Liz Rew) the group’s appointed leader and Denise (Sarah Mullins) her second in command.   The women are taking part in a team building exercise for their company and have been following various clues. Unfortunately, their boat has just crashed into the rocks resulting in them having to haul themselves onto the small island in the middle of Derwent Water.

Already we see tensions, as Denise berates Shelia over her failure to listen to her warnings about the ‘rocks ‘resulting in their boat capsizing. A scream is heard.  This is Julie (Jayne Cox) a further team member and Denise shows her quick-witted character again by quipping sarcastically that Shelia hadn’t managed to ‘drown her.’   Julie finally crawls out shivering from the cold, her teeth chattering so much she can hardly talk. 

One of the group members is still missing, Fay (Rebecca Radord in her debut role with the group) and again Denise has a dig at her regarding her Christian faith, observing scornfully that she could probably ‘walk on water’ or ‘part the sea.’  To add insult to injury, Denise, has lost her rucksack during the scrabble for safety.  Fay finally appears, dripping wet dressed in purple waterproofs and a bobble hat.

Gradually, the ladies’ diverse personalities begin to emerge, as the stress of the possible life and death situation begins to sink in.  Julie is a pedantic, over-polite, middle-class woman with a penchant for wrapping up everything in freezer bags and name tagging her clothes with a permanent marker pen.  She also has a rucksack containing half the camping section of ‘Go Outdoors.’  Shelia is an over-confident, cryptic crossword lover insisting on seeing the positive in everything while comparing every experience with her own life ‘with the twins.’  She is determined to use her limited knowledge of camping survival techniques on the ladies.  Denise is cynical and sarcastic who uses her humour as a weapon and a defence and Fay is an over-eager young woman with a wide-eyed look and a habit of talking sixty to the dozen, an obvious people pleaser who says the first thing that comes into her head. 

These women work together in an office - but now they are going to have to work together to survive. 

Denise quickly shows her manipulative side, coercing Julie to use her emergency mobile phone to ring her husband Angus, and in a funny scene, we hear Julie calmly giving directions and an update of their situation ‘Group C are in difficulties’ only to reveal she’s talking to an answer phone.   Fay also appears and breathlessly tells the bemused ladies that she has seen a rare snow-white falcon.  

The ladies quickly realise that they have misunderstood the challenge, and Shelia takes the blame for the situation for overthinking the clues.  She tries to keep up morale by playing a game of rounders with a stick and a fir cone, only for Denise to scornfully dismiss the idea, prompting Julie to suggest her own game of ‘Celebrity French Cricket’ further earning Denise’s contempt.  

In a sweet scene set in the tree, Fay talks to God about the birds and the beautiful falcon she has seen comparing it to a sonnet.  She also sings a hymn like song that she has composed herself and mentions someone called Lucy who obviously has had a profound effect on her. 

Most of the scenes concern the ladies unprepared struggle for survival with very little experience and a lack of resources.  In one scene, Shelia desperately tries to light a fire furiously rubbing two sticks together, only for Julie to produce a self-lighting stove from her voluminous backpack, complete with canteen of cookware and utensils. The realisation that Denise had all the food in her rucksack, which was now ‘feeding the fish,’ only added to the hopelessness of the situation.  The ladies battling over the one sausage snaffled from the hotel breakfast showed the cracks deepening in their relationships. 

The interval cliffhanger with Julie, her hands covered in a blood, left us with the possibility that they were not alone on the secluded island. After the interval, we saw the ladies circling Dad’s army style, brandishing makeshift weapons, singing ‘Kumbaya’ as they tried to nervously coax out the would-be murderer, only for Fay to matter-of-factly inform them it was only pigeon’s blood from the falcon. 

My favourite scene was the Derwent Ferry passing by the island, complete with cheery DJ voice over (Frank Stamp) and swirling disco lights, as the ladies desperately tried to attract attention using sparklers.  Fay, the lookout, has been praying in the tree and has missed the opportunity to alert the ferry.  The ladies then realise that they are going to have to spend the night sleeping on the island.  Dark secrets are exposed and bitter rivalries and deep-seated tensions bubble to the surface but how long will they have to try to survive in the wilderness and will Angus ever get back from Aldi? 

Some very powerful performances from all four ladies, in a very intense storyline which veered from snappy humour to a dark twisted finale, ensuring none of the ladies would ever look at each other the same way again.  

Liz Rew was good as the perky optimistic Shelia trying to think her way out the puzzle, she had accidentally got them all into.  Her best scenes were sparring with Denise trying desperately to keep the status quo of the group from slipping into anarchy.  Her scene with the would-be suicidal Fay was well done as she used all her tact and diplomacy as a negotiator. 

Sarah Mullins was wonderful as the thick-skinned, scornful Denise, demonstrating a quick-fire delivery of her lines, which she aimed at her hapless colleagues with deadly surgical precision and provided much of the humour.  She was also a pusher of ideas, persuading poor naïve Julie into thinking her husband was having an affair and ruthlessly taunting and undermining Fay in her sudden choice to become a born-again Christian.  Her whole character dripped sarcasm but was she hiding her own jealousies and insecurities behind a protective wall of cynicism?  I liked her many one-liners my favourite being the pun ‘Lord of the Files’   

Jayne Cox as Julie was dithering and edgy, creating a believable character of a woman who had never stood up for herself against her colleagues or been truly loved by her husband always keeping her true feelings tightly buttoned-up.  Her Mary Poppins style rucksack provided much of the humour and a gasp of shock at that hunting knife!  Her plaintive wail at her husband’s presumed infidelity ‘pounding away on the multi-grain’ was very funny, as were her lurid campfire horror stories and the jokes where she muddled up the punchline.  She was also quite insensitive in her treatment of Fay calling her ‘doolally’ following her time off work and asking probing questions.  Her furious attack on Denise after her tactless tirade about her work colleagues was well done and a long time coming!

Rebecca Radford was pitch perfect as the deeply traumatised Fay, harbouring a dark guilty secret that had prompted her to become a Christian as a coping mechanism for her own mental health and well-being. Rebecca was vulnerable and fragile teetering on the edge of instability, desperately trying to be nice to the odious Denise.  Her private moments in the tree talking to God about nature were very well done and she has a lovely singing voice. Her total break-down while singing one chilling line from ‘Oklahoma’ while perched in the tree as her terrible burden was revealed was terrifying compelling.  Her appearance, garbed as a bloody angel is a lasting visceral image. The awkward scene where she got all the ladies to sing her special hymn while handing around the raw meat from the falcon, she had sacrificed for them was especially unnerving. 

Well done to Donnamarie for pushing your cast to the limit, exploring difficult themes while still managing to extract humour from the situation.  Lighting from Cody McGinty was done well and added to the spooky feel of the island and its changing weather and times of day.  I particularly liked the disco lights for the ferry.  Sound Designer, David Cox created effects that added to the island’s soundscape.  Props were excellent and all added to the realism.  Costumes were in keeping with the outward-bound theme with waterproof jackets and woolly hats.  I loved Denise’s koala hat and the compass in the plastic pocket worn around Shelia’s neck.  

Back-stage were the wonderful team of Maxine Goldstone, Derek Green and Ellie Hamer, ensuring everything ran smoothly behind the scenes.  I would have liked the wonderful soundscape island noises in-between scene changes, but these were overall brisk and executed quickly through using the cast to move around their own props or sit quietly in semi-darkness as required.  Working without microphones, the ladies had good diction and delivered their copious lines well. 

Thank you for the lovely warn welcome from Cody and Donnamarie before the show.  It was also a pleasure to meet the ladies after the show and have a long chat with Donnamarie about her vision for the production.  Well done and I look forward to your next show.

 

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