Best of humanity in toe-tapping show

REVIEW: Come From Away at Theatre Royal Plymouth

Most of us who are old enough will remember our exact whereabouts when the tragic events of 9/11 unfolded in America.

The terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York which killed almost 3,000 people was the most shocking event I will probably ever see in my lifetime.

For days, weeks and months we all consumed the news, the graphic images keeping us awake at night. How could something so terrible have happened?

But from the worst comes the best in humanity when the world wraps its arms around those who have lost the most.

A lesser known story of the aftermath of 9/11 was when 38 planes were diverted to a town called Gander in Newfoundland, Canada and a community’s Herculean effort to look after 6,500, scared, disorientated and confused passengers for five days.

The population of the town doubled in size overnight as plane after plane arrived with passengers from all over the world, totally unaware of where they were and why they were there.

Many didn’t speak English or had challenging dietary, religious or medical requirements. Schools and community halls were opened and following requests on local radio, blankets, mattresses, food and toilet rolls were donated by the hundreds, the mayor of Gander leading the charge.

The musical Come From Away portrays how residents on this rock in the Atlantic Ocean worked tirelessly side by side to help strangers thrown together through a tragic event. School bus drivers abandoned the picket line to transport people from the airport; a worker at the local animal shelter took care of the 19 animals on board the planes, from cats and dogs to a pregnant bonobo chimpanzee; people opened their homes, offering food, phones, a shower and a bed.

Friendships were formed, relationships started and soon the differences between everyone melted away… from something terrible, something good happened.

Come From Away shows how those five days changed the lives of the passengers and the residents of Gander and how, even though we are all different, we are also all the same.

The emotional number 'Prayer' sees a coming together of all religions in hymn, chant and song as the world stops to observe a national moment of silence in American for the 9/11 victims.  

This is a moving story, from the passenger desperate to hear from her firefighter son in New York to the fear and suspicion shown towards the Muslim passenger who is terrified by the ordeal.

But it’s also a life affirming story, with the upbeat 'Welcome to the Rock' and party number 'Screech In' as people let their guards down and guests and locals enjoy some fun over the Jamaican rum Screech which is part of the Newfoundland culture.

The fiddle band on stage and the Irish accents of the locals during the whole performance does well to reflect the massive influence Ireland and its culture has had on the people of Gander and broader Newfoundland.

It has been said that some of the fishing villages were so remote that the accents of the first people to emigrate continued down through the generations.

This small cast packs a punch playing the parts of both the locals and the plane people. 

The show will have you on the verge of tears and make you want to laugh, toe tap and get up and dance but most of all it makes you think … about the good in people. The standing ovation was justified.

Come From Away is at Theatre Royal Plymouth until Saturday 13 April, before heading to Southampton and Norwich and then to other venues until January 2025.