The Catch

by

Nick Darke

Touring 15th October to 14th November 2021

Such has been the reaction to our tour of Landmarks (see below for 4 star Theatre Hub review) that, Covid permitting, plan a tour this autumn of another Nick Darke play called The Catch. It is a comedy set in Padstow in which two fishermen, suffering the effects of the new quota system, are wondering how to supplement their income and decide to go in for a little extra-curricular smuggling. The dodgy local character with whom they are dealing is playing a double game with them, and also with the daughter of one of the fishermen.

Although the play is a comedy, topically post-Brexit it raises interesting issues about concerns and challenges faced by fishermen who feel that they have again been let down despite all the pre-Brexit talk of protecting them. It also raises issues about sustainability in the environment. Jane, Nick Darke’s widow, is fully supportive of this revival. She filmed a performance of our ‘Landmarks’ production which is to be fed into a documentary she is making about Nick’s life and work and which it is hoped will be screened on television sometime before our tour of ‘The Catch’, which will be good pre-publicity.

Notwithstanding that Nick wrote plays for the RSC, National Theatre, Royal Court, Kneehigh and other companies, not many among our audiences had heard of him; but our feedback after Landmarks in Autumn 2019 heard a chorus of “more Nick Darke, please!”

Given the ‘fishy’ nature of the play, several venues plan to serve a fish and chip supper before, during the interval, or at the end of the show. This will be indicated against the venues below as details are finalised.

Provisional schedule

Landmarks

by

Nick Darke

It is 1935. In the countryside the tractor is taking over from the horse. The balance of nature is being upset. A stranger appears. A ghost? An angel? Or… a Boggart? Whoever he is, don’t put him in the village stocks.

A gentle and entertaining comedy.

Nick Darke was a Cornishman who cared passionately about the environment. He was also a lobster fisherman, broadcaster, film-maker and chairman of his local parish council. His plays are often set in the past but project themes which are relevant today. As well as on radio and television, his work has been performed by Bristol Old Vic, the Royal Court, National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Despite his distinguished career he claimed that his greatest achievement, along with his wife Jane – who has given her full support to this production – was in persuading North Cornwall Council not mechanically to rake the beaches and thus avoid damaging the natural eco-structure.

Richard Avery, who directs, worked with Nick Darke and was in the cast of Landmarks when it was staged at the Chester Gateway Theatre in 1979.

“Neil King’s craggily traditional Wilf misses none of the drollery of the script and chimes perfectly with Gordon Meredith’s more fanciful Totty, given to extravagant narratives of the glory of industry. 

As Roxanne Waite’s stroppy teenager, Alice in Act 1 is a delight; the soberer Alice of Act 2 is more grown up, less funny, but convincingly sincere. 

Neighbour Mrs. Mayse, always returning from China or setting off up the Nile with her cats, is the funnier for Jane Hollington’s down-to-earth delivery and Richard Avery’s stranger is amiably neutral – we can make up our own minds.”

 **** 4 star review from Theatre review Hub – see https://www.thereviewshub.com/landmarks-east-riding-theatre-beverley/

Cast

Wilf      Neil King

Alice Wilf’s daughter      Roxanne Waite

Totty Wilf’s brother-in-law      Gordon Meredith

Mrs Mayse An eccentric      Jane Hollington

Father A boggart      Richard Avery

Director      Richard Avery

Stage Manager/Technician      Connor McConnell

Sound      Ray Williams

Music      Robin Horspool

*******

Fallen Leaves

30th October to 11th November 2018

Our production marked the armistice at the end of the First World War. It included popular songs/music hall of the time, the war poets, letters from the trenches and sketches, culminating in a moving finale. The final performance was at the East Riding Theatre, Beverley, on the 11th day of the 11th month.