'How do we stage a house crumbling into the sea?'

Elephant, written by a Norfolk author now based in London, will be touring local venues until the end of the month

A house teetering on the edge of an eroded and crumbling Norfolk cliff is the setting of a new touring play.

Elephant has been written by author Jeremy Page, who grew up in the coastal village of West Runton, near Cromer.

It opened to a sellout audience in Sheringham on Thursday - the first of 12 performances in village halls and theatres across Norfolk and Suffolk, which has required some inventive staging.

"We didn't have the money and we're playing in village halls without hydraulics so we've come up with a few tricks with angles," said artistic director Dawn Finnerty, from not-for-profit theatre company Feast.

The play will resonate with local audiences familiar with issues at Happisburgh and at Hemsby, where coastal communities have become increasingly vulnerable to the effects of erosion.

The play tells the story of four characters who end up gathered at a family home about to fall into the sea

"We have a rural house crumbling into the North Sea and we thought how are we going to do that - that was the challenge.

"We had to get it on the 'huh' - as they say in Norfolk - so our set designer came up with the idea of putting all the furniture on angles and we have an amazing soundscape.

"Together we have a rich tapestry of the actors' physicality, the sound design, set and direction."

Ms Finnerty said the story of difficult relationships and their foundations is enveloped in the precarious environment of a family home under threat on a precipice.

She said the company always strived to bring a social context to their plays without "thrusting issues down the audience's throats" and felt Elephant was able to highlight the impact climate change had on people.

Artistic director Dawn Finnerty said it had taken three years to bring the play to the stage

Feast adapted Page's award-winning book Salt in 2018 for the stage, with Elephant the result of another collaboration between Page and the theatre company, co-founded by Page's former vice principal and drama teacher, Rob John, at Paston Sixth Form in North Walsham.

"He was the best teacher who anyone could have encountered, as well as a very talented playwright," said Page.

"He opened my eyes to theatre, to drama, to politics and the role of what a writer should be, so to work with Feast now has felt like a completion of a circle."

Page wrote the script in lockdown before the Seagull Theatre held a first read-through in 2021

The play has been in development for three years after holding its first read-through at the Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft.

Public funding from the theatre and the Arts Council has enabled the tour, which will visit places including Great Yarmouth, Halesworth, Southwold and Sedgeford.

To finally bring it to the stage has felt "incredible", said Ms Finnerty.

"It's very exciting and the actors want to see how the audience react as they play such well-drawn characters.

"We hope people go away enjoying the drama and also take something away about the impact climate change is having on the world and its people."

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