'It’s just a wall of noise coming at us every night'
The cast of Come from Away on bringing the hit musical to The Lowry
It’s always hard looking back on a key point in history to recall what it was like before it had been retold over and over again. Before every last day, hour or sometimes even minute had been inspected, mapped and analysed. What it felt like not to know what would happen next, or how events would play out.
On September 11, 2001, 50,000 people were at their desks in New York’s Twin Towers, and many thousands were travelling into or over the US by aeroplane.
We all know the atrocity that happened next: Four commercial airliners hijacked by 19 terrorists. Two were flown into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside after its passengers bravely revolted. A total 2,977 victims died.
It was impossible then, as the whole world mourned, to imagine any warm, fuzzy feelings coming out of the terrorist attacks, but then we learned of the phone messages left on loved ones answerphones by people who knew they were going to die. Messages of love and comfort despite their fear.
A similar feeling of amazement and relief that goodness can shine on the darkest days, is triggered when you hear the cast and production team of the musical Come From Away talk about the show that is touring to The Lowry for Christmas. When all planes were banned from landing at US airports on 9/11, 7,000 passengers from all over the world found themselves grounded in a small town in Newfoundland, Canada. And 7,000 residents of Gander found themselves welcoming, feeding, supporting and befriending the 7,000 strangers who unexpectedly arrived in their town.
“When the planes were coming in, the passengers looked out and all they could see were lights - and it was the lights from the cars all queuing, waiting to pick people up and take them back to their houses,” says the show’s producer John Brant.
“The people of Gander said we’re going to open our doors to you, we’re going to help you, we’re going to shelter you, we’re going to clothe you, we’re going to feed you, we’re going to hold you if you need us to hold you, and we don’t want anything back. That’s how life should be.”
The characters in the show - passengers and Gander residents - are based on real people, in some cases their words have been lifted verbatim to tell their story. The song Me and the Sky, was taken from an interview with stranded American Airlines pilot Captain Beverley Bass about her life and career - how flying gave her freedom, but on 9/11 her beloved planes became instruments of death.
Sara Poyzer, who plays her in Come From Away, said: “You embody the spirit of your character. I looked into who she was and what I got was someone who was not only a decent person but was also really strong character. To become a female airline pilot at the time was a really difficult thing. She says when people saw her in the cockpit they assumed she was the secretary. She had to fight against prejudice by men and women.”
Every member of the cast has a number of roles - and multiple accents to juggle.
Bree Smith plays Hannah, who is desperately trying to get hold of her firefighter son on her flip phone, knowing that he will have been called up to help at the World Trade Center.
She says: “It definitely challenged me personally. I have my Hannah character who has a Newark accent, and my Gander character. It constantly switches. I just take off my glasses and have to switch accents. But it’s fun, I enjoy it.”
The audience response to Come From Away has been overwhelming, says Mark Dugdale, who performed in the West End run and is now part of the UK tour: “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a show like it. I’ve been really lucky in my career to have been in shows where the audience response is crazy but this is a different level. It’s just a wall of noise coming at us every night.”
John added: “This show is set in Gander but it could be set anywhere. It’s about community, it’s about people coming together when times are really hard. It’s a celebration of life.”
Come from Away is at The Lowry, Salford, from December 3 to January 5, 2025.
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Laura