“…and I turned round and I could see the curve of the bay and I can see all those things that Alex describes, I could see my kids playing behind him and he wasn't really paying any attention to them and I just thought what if…”
- Simon Stephens
Originally commissioned by world-famous new writing company, Bush Theatre in the UK, Sea Wall was written by Simon Stephens (Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time) for Andrew Scott (BBC’s Sherlock, Fleabag).
Sea Wall follows Alex, a doting father, loving husband, loyal son, gentle soul through his musings on family, spirituality, art, doubt, love, and loss, between crashing waves of tragedy and hope.
In 2008 after flooding threatened to close the Bush Theatre for renovations, Stephens was asked to develop a monologue that required no lighting. With only four weeks to complete the script, Stephens took inspiration from the holiday he was taking in France at the time.
The sea wall, the characters, the relationships, even Alex’s profession as a photographer were all drawn from Stephens’ own life.
On writing the play for Scott, Stephens said, “I always wanted to work with him… and I just thought.... I’ll write this for Andrew… as soon as I knew I was writing it for Andrew, it really, it really crystallised the writing and I was able to write it very very quickly.”
Sea Wall is running 29 - 30 July at Ipswich Civic Centre in a limited season directed by Ipswich’s own Timothy Wynn starring acclaimed actor Steven Rooke. You can find tickets here.
Learn more about the history of Sea Wall here.