Award-winning production company Deadman return to their home venue Quay Arts with the full production of The Freshwater Five before setting sail on a UK South Coast – and London – tour.
Inspired by the wildly popular Guardian ‘Today in Focus’ 6-part podcast mini-series, Island-born creative duo Samuel Bossman and playwright Liam Patrick Harrison were astonished to discover that the biggest drug busts in British history took place right next to the beach where they learned to swim. The research and development process and performances brought them into contact with the men’s legal champion Emily Bolton (founder of Appeal), family members of the accused (who attended the first Island showcase), as well the only dissenting juror from the original trial.
Built on the wave of enormously positive coverage and audience feedback received, Arts Council England has funded Deadman to develop a new full-production to tour the UK South Coast beginning its journey with a return to the company’s home venue of Quay Arts Centre for a 5-night run from 27th February to 3rd March 2023.
The new full-production of The Freshwater Five tells the story of 5 fishermen on the Isle of Wight (Jamie Green, Jon Beere, Zoran Dresic, Daniel Payne & Scott Birtwistle), who were sentenced to a total of 104 years for conspiracy to import £53m worth of cocaine. They have always professed their innocence. The developed production boasts a wealth of new local creative talent and delves further and deeper into themes of contemporary and historic smuggling, maritime mythology, the British justice system and the ongoing deterioration of our coastal communities.
Artistic Director Samuel Bossman says:
“As a proud IOWer, I was blown away by the incredible reaction to our research and development phase and performances of The Freshwater Five. Growing up here, I always felt like there was a lack of outlets and pathways for young people and theatre creatives, and that audiences were not getting the benefit of new, exciting theatre. Because of that, like so many rural and coastal communities, the Isle of Wight has for a long time been underappreciated and undervalued.
“For me and the playwright Liam Patrick Harrison, I think The Freshwater Five project showed that there is potential here – outside the usual places. We want to tell stories representative of that – stories that have an intangible power, stories that ask questions, surprise, challenge and bring communities together through the transformative healing power of the creative arts.
Article continues below this advertisement “We want to continue the legacy of the story, as well as investigate again the wider narratives inherent on the Isle of Wight and our coastal communities. We are absolutely delighted and feel incredibly lucky to bring The Freshwater Five On Tour to coastal communities around the South Coast, starting on our beloved Isle of Wight.”
Playwright Liam Patrick Harrison has said:
“We are overjoyed to return to the island with this new full-production of The Freshwater Five. This would not have been possible without the incredible support of our enthusiastic Island audiences as well as local creative institutions such as Quay Arts, who are receiving much-deserved additional NPO support from Arts Council England from April 2023.
“The second round of funding from Arts Council England, Mike Howley Trust and Farnham Maltings feels like an incredible acknowledgement with the work done so far – and we are overjoyed that we can use a huge amount of it to invest directly in island and South Coast creatives, in regions where opportunities of this nature are often absent.
“As a creative team, we feel privileged to be able to tell important, timely island narratives and hope that the next stage of this project continues to champion the story of the men of the Freshwater Five, their families and friends who continue to fight for justice”
Why is there so much interest in this bunch of low life drug dealing guilty scum?
I thinks that you does protest to much…….
Just imagine how much damage, missery and deaths that £53m worth of cocaine would have done to peoples lives? This is quite simple, if you do a crime expect to do the time. Now grow a pair and enjoy your time in prison losers. Best place for them. Well done to all involved in getting these scum put away.
Scum of the earth. Why highlight these evil people. I remember Green when he lived in Ryde. That man is filth.