Presented by Captivate Theatre
Review by Hunter King
Welcome to the rock! Captivate Theatre have brought back their critically acclaimed and audience beloved production of Come From Away for the second half of this Fringe. A story about kindness and love in the wake of tragedy, Come From Away is a story of the town of Gander, Newfoundland whose residents took in thousands of displaced travelers when planes were forced to ground on September 11th, 2001.
The story is told by a cast of 16, each of whom doubles as multiple characters over the course of the show, bringing to life an entire small town and all of the travelers who were forced to visit. The show is largely led by the mayor of Gander, Claude (Scott Coltman), who leads with a kind bravado like a big teddy bear. He has a strong sense of strength in numbers like “Welcome to the Rock” but isn’t afraid to show emotion throughout the show. This is actually one of the major strengths of the entire cast; all feel emotionally invested in the material and grounded in a humanity that is the key to the success of an inspirational show like Come From Away.
Special praise needs to be given to Lucy Pedersen, the show’s accent coach. Usually local Edinburgh shows can be fairly hit or miss on accent work, but every single accent in the show were authentic to the people of Newfoundland without ever crossing into parody, which can be quite difficult with such a distinct accent.
Among the strongest of the cast was Peter Tomassi as Oz, the loveable police chief of Gander, and Flick Hannah as Beverly who’s rendition of “Me and the Sky” nearly blew the roof off of the Assembly Hall auditorium.
Unfortunately, the sound mixing of the show left something to be desired, as the large venue swallowed a lot of sound and many lines were lost due to microphone issues, which seems to be a common problem this Fringe. Additionally, someone beneath the stands was doing some sort of work that was getting disruptive to the show, which may have been a crew member or someone working for the venue, but it was very distracting especially when the audience was already straining to hear the lyrics.
With this being said, the performances of all of the performers were exceptionally strong. The show itself was almost identical to the broadway production, which may be something that could’ve been updated so Captivate could have their own flair added to the production, however it is a testament to their talent to put on a production on par with the original.
Testament to Talent
Come From Away runs at Venue 20, Ballroom at Assembly Rooms at 14:20
Running time – Sixty minutes
Review by Hunter King (contact@corrblimey.uk)
Hunter is a 2024 Master’s graduate of the University of Edinburgh and current doctoral candidate with a thesis focused on experimental theatre in Edinburgh. He has been a theatre practitioner for over a decade having worked in many capacities including as a director, actor, stage manager, front of house manager, and technician as well as others. Prior to moving to Edinburgh, Hunter was a high school English teacher in the United States. His passion for the written word as well as his passion for live performance are what motivated him to become a writer for this publication.
