To resist, resign or collaborate: a familiar dilemma for communities threatened by destructive forces from outside. In 1917, the South Devon fishing village of Hallsands collapsed into the sea, following Government-approved coastal dredging. The events leading to the disaster were well-known in the Westcountry, or so it was believed until Hallsands, A Village Betrayed, published in 2002 revealed another story, carefully concealed for nearly a century.
Shifting Sands, by the same author, dramatises that story, through the eyes of a local family and a journalist/narrator, recreated from the real words spoken and written at the time.
George Wills, a real character, was undisputed leader of Hallsands' fishermen until events, and his own actions, began to undermine his position. Tom Wills, his (fictional) son, like many young working men of the time, is an obsessive 'self-improver' whose aspirations and loyalties are called into question as the conflict unfolds. Edith, his wife, is already struggling to attain a home and a family when the village around them begins to disintegrate.
From their struggle with the authorities, and tensions between the villagers themselves, emerges a story of small community life with resonance for our own times.
© Steve Melia, 2003
From the First Production: Debbie Plummer (Edith), Alan Prince (Jim), Paul Wonnacott (George) at the ruins of Old Hallsands
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You may download, print and copy the play but a licence must be obtained for performances - obtain a quotation.
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