Twenty-five years after thousands of stranded passengers found refuge in a small Canadian town, Ellesmere Musical Theatre Company is bringing their remarkable story of kindness and community to Sheffield.
There is a reason why, on this late summer evening, we find ourselves sipping iced lattes in a quiet corner of Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons at Drakehouse. We’re here to discuss Come From Away, often described as the 9/11 musical, with members of the cast and production team. But why Tim Hortons?
Early in the musical, the mayor of Gander, Newfoundland, explains that he begins each morning at the Canadian coffee chain. Everything, he says, starts and ends at Tim Hortons. It is where locals meet, exchange news and remain connected to their community.
“It felt amiss not to do an interview about Come From Away at Tim Hortons in Sheffield,” says director Thomas Fox-Owens. “You can’t get more fitting than that.”
For cast member Phil Turner, who by some miracle of coincidence happens to be my gaffer, the visit also settles a rather more fundamental point.
“Phil thought it was a made-up place,” Thomas adds. “He genuinely thought it was something created for the story.”
Fortunately, Exposed’s esteemed head honcho has since been introduced to the real thing. Coffee-shop confusion cleared up, we sit down with the cast and production team behind Ellesmere Musical Theatre Company’s forthcoming production, which comes to Sheffield’s Montgomery Theatre from 14–17 October.
Written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away is based on the extraordinary events that unfolded in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
When US airspace was closed, 38 planes carrying almost 7,000 passengers were diverted to Gander, a remote town with a population of around 9,000. Over the next five days, its residents opened schools, community centres and their own homes to complete strangers from across the world.
So, is it a musical about 9/11?
“No,” replies Thomas firmly. “It’s a really optimistic musical. It’s all about community and, at a time when the UK can feel a little divided, it’s quite nice to portray a piece about people putting aside their differences and coming together to look after others in a time of need.”
Cast member Bethan Griffiths, who plays trailblazing airline captain Beverley Bass as well as Gander local Annette, offers another way of looking at it.
“I saw an interview where they said they don’t call it a 9/11 musical,” she explains. “They refer to it as a 9/12 musical because it’s about the aftermath and how people came together to recover from it.”
That distinction matters. Rather than attempting to dramatise the attacks themselves, the musical focuses on the people caught in their wake and the remarkable response of a community whose population almost doubled overnight.
“As much as it’s set around the worst possible circumstances, it’s such a feel-good musical,” says Mark Holmes, whose nine named roles include Oz Fudge, one half of Gander’s two-man police department. “It’s about community and people coming together to help humanity. Watching it, you’ll go through everything. You’ll be happy, you’ll be sad, you’ll cry and you’ll laugh. It’s a real rollercoaster.”
That emotional balancing act has been central to Thomas’s approach. While the warmth and humour of Gander’s response drive the show, he was determined not to gloss over the horror that made it necessary.
“You earn the highs by being truthful to the lows,” he says. “There’s no getting away from the fact that it was a horrific tragedy in world history. But because we acknowledge that, we can then show the camaraderie of the locals and the everyday problems introduced by having all these people staying there.
“There’s a wonderful scene in a pub where some of the passengers are made honorary Newfoundlanders. In this horrible moment, they forget about everything for a minute and enjoy this amazing community around them. We don’t get to share those optimistic moments without being honest about the dark ones.”
The production will incorporate archive footage and visual imagery to recreate the fragmented way passengers received news of the attacks. Many had spent up to 28 hours confined to their aircraft, with little communication and no clear understanding of what had happened.
“There’s a scene where the passengers hear the president’s speech over the tannoy,” Mark explains. “It sends thoughts to the families and people affected, but it doesn’t actually say what has happened. They’re still clueless until they reach somewhere with a television.”
“It must have been terrifying,” adds Bethan. “The passengers had no information, but people back in New York didn’t have that much information at the time either. When they finally got to where they were being housed, they were seeing the first news coming through.”
Despite dealing with a global event, Come From Away is performed by an ensemble of just 12 actors, switching between at least 36 roles. Ellesmere is the first Sheffield amateur company to stage the musical since performing rights became available, and it has resisted the temptation to expand the cast.
“We knew there was a risk in terms of selling tickets,” says company chair Damien Ross. “A lot of companies choose to add a larger chorus, but we wanted to stick with the original format. We wanted that authenticity and to try something different that nobody else in the area was doing.”
According to musical director Gareth Lloyd, the multi-rolling is not simply a theatrical trick. It reinforces the message at the heart of the story.
“The characters play everyone, and that’s the point,” he says. “When these huge, awful things happen, you are reduced to just being a person. At one moment, you might be playing someone from England, then Canada, the Middle East or Africa. We’re all human at the end of the day, and it’s a beautiful way of telling that story.”
It also presents the cast with a fairly formidable challenge. There are no leisurely costume changes or extended spells waiting in the wings. The production runs for around one hour and 40 minutes without an interval, with almost everybody remaining onstage throughout.
“In a standard musical, you might have a scene and a song, then go and sit in the dressing room for a while,” says Bethan. “For us, we’re on almost all the time. At any point, you could be one of two, three or nine characters, and you have to know where you are, who you are and which accent you’re doing.”
Costume changes are deliberately minimal, with a jacket, hat or change in posture marking a new character. At one point, Mark plays four different people over the space of just a few pages.
“You don’t just have to sound different, you have to look different,” he says. “Nobody is offstage long enough for a full costume change, so the physicality becomes really important. I’m a police officer, a rabbi, a pilot, a cardiologist and a gym teacher at different points. The majority of my part is about those different characterisations, and I’m really enjoying getting my teeth into it.”
Phil plays Kevin T, one half of a gay couple travelling together when their plane is diverted, as well as Gander local Garth. Despite years of confidently commanding meetings at Exposed Towers, this is his first full musical theatre production and his first proper audition.
“I’ve done one-night-only things, so this will definitely be the hardest thing I’ve done because I’ve got to perform it five times,” he says. “It’s emotionally and physically exhausting, but there’s a real high when you finish.
“Because there are only 12 of us, nobody feels more or less important than anybody else. You feel very much like you’re all in it together, which fits the show. They’re lovely people, there’s a really good energy around it and, from my point of view, there’s not loads of dancing!”
His director is rather more complimentary about Phil’s dramatic abilities than his employees might ordinarily allow.
“He came to the audition so nervous, but then he read this monologue and we were all sitting there with our jaws on the floor,” says Thomas. “He left the room and we all turned to each other asking, ‘Who on earth was that? Where have you been?’ He takes direction and runs with it. I’m genuinely very proud of him.”
The music provides a constant thread through the production. Dialogue is frequently underscored, while the score draws heavily on Newfoundland’s Celtic heritage.
“The music is very much the 13th character, if that’s not too cheesy to say,” Gareth explains. “There are very few moments that aren’t underscored, and the folk influence keeps the pulse and heartbeat of the show going.
“Most musicals have four or five numbers you can lift out and perform elsewhere, but there’s really only one here. Everything else involves all 12 members, performing as an ensemble. Again, that shows the community and spirit of the piece.”
That standalone number is Me and the Sky, performed by Bethan as Beverley Bass, the first female captain for American Airlines.
“It’s four and a half minutes looking at her life, and it’s one of the most iconic songs from the show,” says Bethan. “Everything else keeps rolling, with scenes and dialogue inside the songs. This tells a complete story.”
While the events took place 25 years ago, the company believes the show’s central message has only become more pertinent.
“If anything, it champions the values that a lot of people want to see,” says Thomas. “The world can feel like two tribes and two sides at the moment. Things feel divided.
“This community set up schools as accommodation, turned one place of prayer into somewhere multiple faiths could use and brought in chefs to cater for as many dietary requirements as possible. These things really happened. It’s a wonderful true story about two contrasting communities forced together, and rather than squabbling, they made it work.
“Hopefully, people will walk away feeling happier and more connected to their own community.”
For Damien, it is also an opportunity to show what Sheffield’s amateur theatre scene can achieve by taking a chance on something new.
“The talent is phenomenal,” he says. “This is going to be a step above for Ellesmere. We always try to do something a bit different, but this takes it a step further. I don’t want people to miss it because Sheffield needs to see what this cast can do.”
Bethan agrees: “We’re used to performing shows that have been around for a very long time. This has only existed for 11 years, and it’s unusual for something so new to become available to amateur companies this early.
“We’re the first group to do it in Sheffield, so it’s exciting to be part of that first wave. I hope people come out of curiosity and leave having experienced a beautiful, heartwarming story from a very different moment in our recent history.”
Come From Away runs at the Montgomery Theatre from 14 –17 October, with evening performances at 7.30pm and a 2.30pm matinee. Tickets are available through Sheffield Theatres
