Review: Engaging tale of Ipswich’s past
Changing Faces Hidden Lives cast - Credit: Archant
Changing Faces, Hidden Lives By Suzanne Hawkes St Mary’s Church, Bucklesham – dress rehearsal
Changing Faces, Hidden Lives, is an informative, engaging and entertaining piece of theatre.
Written and directed by Suzanne Hawkes, the play focuses on one of Ipswich’s oldest and most historic buildings – St Mary at the Quay – and its connections to the shifting communities of the Ipswich Waterfront
Exploring the characters that worshipped at St Mary at the Quay over the centuries and the building’s evolution into Quay Place – a wellbeing and heritage centre – Changing Faces, Hidden lives is a fascinating and meticulously researched journey from the 16th century to the modern day.
Featuring some of Ipswich’s personalities – including Tudor merchants Henry and Alice Tooley, explorer Thomas Cavendish and mariner Thomas Eldred – the play records the lives of those bound up with the town’s mercantile history.
You may also want to watch:
A mythological character – the Spirit of the Sea - adds a metaphysical dimension as the action switches throughout from the present day to past episodes.
As well as breaking some taboos and challenging stereotypes, the play highlights some 21st century mental health issues while cleverly juxtaposing them with the stresses of those living in former times.
Most Read
- 1 Town in talks to sign Barnsley forward Chaplin
- 2 Ipswich Town closing in on deal to sign Rangers defender Edmundson
- 3 Some areas record twice monthly rainfall in a day - and more heavy rain to come
- 4 Warning of 'severe' flooding in west Suffolk
- 5 Ipswich Town appoint new strength and conditioning coach
- 6 Ipswich target Jacobs on his Town talks and chances of a Portman Road move
- 7 'He's a proper footballer... hopefully he can stay around us' - praise for Town teenager Humphreys
- 8 Mike Bacon: This Ipswich team has Paul Cook's style stamped all over it
- 9 Road closed after lorry crashes into tree as one person is trapped inside
- 10 'Amazing' - Joy as port welcomes maiden call of luxury cruise ship
The acting is of good quality, the costumes are colourful, the original music – provided by Bill Stoddart – is excellent, and the piece, though perhaps a bit too long in duration, is peppered with humour and pathos.
An interesting and thought-provoking production.
JAMES MARSTON
