‘Only their skeletons wash up on the shore. That’s what happens to wrong’uns in the sea. The way you’re behaving, you’d better watch out, Desmond.’
Lewisham. A Pupil Referral Unit. Two students – Desmond and Wiggy – are truanting their lessons. To distract themselves from the looming threat of their limited prospects post-education, they enact a series of daydream sequences which range from the naïve and fantastical to the bleakly familiar.
When Wiggy professes the sinister power of the sea to consume ‘rotters’ like themselves, Desmond desperately utilises his strategies of escapism to combat his fear of the upcoming school trip to Southend beach.
Desmond’s Scared of the Smoking Sea premieres at The Jack Studio Theatre and marks the first collaboration between award-winning writer Tommy Sissons and acclaimed actor Aoife Scott in her solo directorial debut.
Tommy Sissons (playwright and director) is a novelist, poet and dramatist based in London. His plays have previously been performed at the Unicorn Theatre, the Chichester Festival Theatre, and the Brighton Komedia. His debut polemic A Small Man’s England was published by Repeater Books in 2021 and his debut novel Cautious, A Boat Adrift is set to be released by the same publisher in July. His poetry has been featured in a variety of journals, including The Poetry Review, and has been studied in colleges and universities in the UK, Germany, and the USA. He is also the editor of GRASS Magazine, an annual publication specialising in the promotion of working-class literature, art and photography.
Aoife Scott (director) is a working-class director, facilitator, and actor from the North-East of England. She is a graduate of the National Youth Theatre and has recently had her West End debut in Desire/Up All Night. Aoife obtained her first directing credit under the guidance of director Paul Roseby OBE, for Town Planning in the Apocalypse.
Cast: Desmond – Alex Miller de Luis; Wiggy – Tyler Kinghorn; Donna – Sarah Gain
Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London, SE4 2DH from Tuesday 22 to Friday 25 August 2023 at 7.30pm. Admission: £14, £12 concessions (suitable for 14+)
Booking: www.brockleyjack.co.uk or 0333 666 3366 (£1.80 fee for phone bookings only)
