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''I became the writer I am today because of a chance encounter with Raising the Wreck. I was 16 years old and had somehow got a ticket. I was alone. That night the whole world opened in front of me. I saw my future on that stage, I saw my
ancestors, and understood my place in the lineage. It’s a pioneering piece of unapologetically women’s theatre, loud, vibrant, hilarious and somehow holy. It made the world seem possible xxx'' Joelle Taylor- Poet, writer, performer and winner of the TS Eliot Award

''Sue Frumin is one of the funniest women I've EVER met. She makes me spit other people's food out of my own nose'', Erika Lopez, actor writer and performer

 

ABOUT

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Sea-change Theatre Company are an International touring theatre company based in the UK, founded by writer, creative activist, and ''queer theatre legend'' (Out Savvy), Sue Frumin.

 

Sea-change was set up to correct the imbalance of roles for women in theatre and film, and invert the Elizabethan convention of cis male-only performances. It is an inclusive theatre company which strives for equality, regardless of background, sexuality, gender, class, ability/disability and race. Indeed, ''Raising the Wreck'' was and is played by a multi racial cast- very unusual for a play first produced and written in 1985!

 

An adaptation of The Tempest was the company’s first production and was produced for Skala Eressos Women’s Festival in 2016 in Lesvos, Greece. It was directed by Ray Malone, who also acted as a dramaturg- crafting the musical and physical style of the piece. Designer Lu Firth’s created the striking costumes, a distorted reflection of Renaissance dress with references to the black clothed portraits of Anthony Van Dyck and those of Tommaso Aniello d’Amalfi. Sixteenth century ‘Slashing’ & ‘Dagging’ are found stitched and cut throughout the play’s costumes with safety pins to highlight the plight of the refugees who were of particular relevance to the company's performance in 2016.

 

After the success of the production in Greece the company decided to stage the play in London in 2017. Both Sue Frumin and Ray Malone developed the writing and dramaturgy of their adaptation to make it relevant to the surrounding and history of The Rose Playhouse on Bankside. The company further expanded to include Assistant Director and Producer Sophia Start and Assistant Director and Movement Coach Monica Nicolaides. Marianne Hyatt collaborated with Ray Malone to develop the musical element of the piece and acted as musical coach for the solo performances.

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Since then, the company have gone on to produce Fine and Dandy to critical acclaim! Covid halted further development, but they are now back with a proposed revival of 1985 Gay Sweatshop commissioned show, ''Raising the Wreck'', with wonderful new additions to the creative team!

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 Past Production team, cast and crew of The Tempest

Gerry Bell

Vix Dillon

Judy Frumin

Sue Frumin

Camila Harding

Marianne Hyatt

Rosie Jones

Kimberley Jarvis

Lakshmi Khabrani

Lucianne Regan

Lottie Vallis

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Adapted and produced: by Sue Frumin

Director: Ray Malone

Designer: Lu Firth

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Later, the team also produced the show at Rose Playhouse on Bankside. Additional members of the team were: assistant director and producer Sophia Start and assistant director and movement coach Monica Nicolaides. Marianne Hyatt also collaborated with Ray Malone to develop the musical element of the piece and acted as musical coach for the solo performances.

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Photographer: Ray Malone

Photographer: Ray Malone

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“I remember Raising the Wreck as a ground-breaking drama bringing lesbian lives to the fore. It’s fitting that it should be reintroduced to a new audience forty years after it was first produced.” Bernardine Evaristo- writer, author, original cast member, and the first black woman to win The Booker Prize

Raising the Wreck
 

Coming soon...

By

Sue Frumin

How it all began..

 

In 1985, Gay Sweatshop commissioned Sue Frumin to write Raising the Wreck. The play is set in a sunken galleon where four long dead women seafarers tell a modern woman about their experience. The performers were all female, and for the first time in the companies history the play had a multi-racial cast.here four long dead women seafarers tell a modern woman about their experience. The performers were all female, and for the first time in the companies history the play had a multi-racial cast.

In 2017, extracts of this popular play were performed at The Arcola Theatre with The Arcola Queer Collective, and in 2023 the full play was resurrected by Paul Green for Bijou Stories (https://bijouhistory.com/2023/08/03/raising-the-wreck/) and a rehearsed reading was produced by Susan Croft for Unfinished Histories (www.unfinishedhistories.com) at Newington Green Meeting House.
'In the heart of a sunken pirate ship, where four fierce female pirates, long since dead, recount their stories to a woman who has fallen into a timeslip from 1980s London, where she is one of the women running a pirate radio station. Originally commissioned from Sue Frumin in 1985 by Gay Sweatshop's women's company for the first time in the company’s history the play had a multi-racial cast. Moving, funny and insightful, the piece is based on the true stories of legendary women pirates including Grace O'Malley, Mary Read and Ching Pan Twu.''
Cast and Crew: "Directed by Runa Augdal with Charly Faye, Blair Heinz, Catherine Mieses, Cicely Halkes-Wellstead, Elise Xiaqi and Emma Louise-Price.

Audience members said: ‘'The actresses were so good… Not only did they create such compelling characters but they had a great chemistry and a fast banter. The play was sparking with jokes and the ensemble got the timing exactly right for the audience to laugh.'’

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The original 1985 Gay Sweatshop cast and crew:

Writer: Sue Frumin

Director: Paddi Taylor
Cast: Bernadine Evaristo, Hazel Maycock, Sara Ridd, Denise Thompson, Marjolein de Vries
Designer: Kate Owen

designed by HKC

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