Plays from 'Yesteryear' are highlight of SOfa Festival

Plays from 'Yesteryear' are to be a highlight of an online production to replace the SO Festival.
Benjamin PeelBenjamin Peel
Benjamin Peel

The popular annual arts project planned for the summer was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic but, like many other major festivals, acts will still be able to be enjoyed at home.

Making the announcement, playwright Benjamin Peel says he is thrilled to have been chosen to be a part of the SOfa Festival, organised by Magna Vitae and starting on August 1.

The project, called Benjamin Peel’s Yesteryear Plays, is produced by Breakwater Theatre Company, which is based in Cleethorpes. It is being held in conjunction with the Swedish/Danish Passage Festival.

The dramas explore various aspects of Skegness’ history, with two being based on real people and two being inspired by real events.

The Showman, the Diver and the Padre imagines a fictional meeting between Billy Butlin, Leslie Gadsby (a high diver) and Harold Davidson (the defrocked Vicar of Stiffkey) in 1936 as the first Butlin’s holiday camp is about to open in Skegness.

Gadsby and Davidson approach Butlin with entertainment proposals.

Skirmish over Skegness is inspired by an air conflict that was fought over the Lincolnshire coast on 21 August 1940 during the Battle of Britain.

A Miner Liberation is about the Women’s Liberation Movement holding a conference in Skegness in 1971 at the Derbyshire Miners’ Holiday Centre. A the same time one was also being held there by an all male delegation of mine working representatives. This audio drama imagines a culture clash comedy of manners between the two.

The Fastest Ever Singer is a monologue about the Skegness born Anne Pashley who competed as a sprinter in the 1956 Olympics and then became an opera singer.

The pieces will be directed by Sarah Beasley and will mostly feature Lincolnshire-based talent including actors Edward Peel and Stacey Gough.

Benjamin Peel’s play, Not a Game for Girls, has received four productions and is published by Oberon Books. He wrote the screenplay for the short film, The Runner, which was selected for the 2018 Fear in the Fens Festival.

He has had two audio dramas put out on the Ragged Foils Podcast. During the lockdown period

his play Singin’ for Engerland was performed live on the Zoom platform after he was approached by Up ‘Ere Productions.

Breakwater Theatre Company was formed in 2012 by writer Andy Evans and actor Sara Beasley.

It was established as a new writing company acting and their aim is to promote new writing for the

stage and to provide opportunities for writers.

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