♪ - Our ship lies in harbour ♪
♪ Ready to set sail ♪
- There's a strong element of resistance in this play
and the sea shanties help to propel that notion.
♪ - Till I return from sea ♪
♪ Till I return ♪
- Sea shanties were basically a means
of sailors entertaining themselves
whilst trying to pass through days
that were often quite gruesome and quite hard.
- One of the characters in the play, Jess,
her longing for going to sea really matched this shanty
and that's why we chose that one.
♪ - Guardian love... ♪
♪ - [Ensemble] Till I return from sea ♪
♪ Till I return ♪
- Music in this play is so important
and it's been so essential to the process.
A lot of what happens in the play and what has happened in
our shared British history is really heavy
and so many people's histories survive through music.
♪ - See to it that you make your way ♪
♪ To the storms that may rise today ♪
♪ Promise to obey the wind ♪
♪ For my love lies there within ♪
- It's amazing because every time
we get together to sing as a cast,
I feel that it focuses the group.
It's interesting because over the weeks rehearsing this,
I found that some of the people who are maybe more timid
at the beginning to sing have really come into their own
and they've really found their voice
and become a lot more confident about singing in the group,
which I always encouraged, because I come from a culture
where everybody sings.
(ensemble singing continues)
- I can't imagine staging this play without music,
without having us singing collectively,
especially in this time as well, after the pandemic,
we're still rehearsing socially distanced a lot of the time.
So we can't connect, we can't hug
and we really need that connection
and music really brings us together.
So it's been this really powerful tool for us
to come together and heal, to grieve and to sing together
really helps us deal with this material and release...
Release pain, release things that we're holding onto,
and celebrate together.
♪ - [Ensemble] Promise to obey the wind ♪
♪ For my love lies there within ♪
(laughing and chatting)
(clapping and cheering)