Come From Away may be a musical set against a backdrop of 9/11 and the Twin Towers tragedy, but as West End legend Sara Poyzer – who plays the first female American Airlines pilot Beverley Bass in the touring production visiting Bristol Hippodrome in August – tells Rosanna Spence, it’s also a must-see, life-affirming tale of humanity at its very finest.
Sometimes, real-life events are so surreal and have such a lasting impact on everyone involved that the stories deserve to be told over and over again – no matter how tragic the context in which they were forged. That couldn’t be truer for the multi-award-winning (four Oliviers and one Tony, to be exact), 100-minute, non-stop triumph of a tale Come From Away; the smash hit show that tells the incredible real-life story of 7,000 air passengers from all over the world who were grounded in Canada during the wake of 9/11, and the small Newfoundland community of Gander who invited these ‘come from aways’ into their lives with open hearts, despite their arrival doubling the Atlantic island town’s tiny population.
We spoke to theatre royalty Sara Poyzer (with West End credits including Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia!, Billy Elliott and TV appearances in Casualty and Doctors among others), whose real life character Beverley Bass, the first ever American Airlines female pilot, was one of the many thousands of lives upturned on that fateful day. Taking time to chat mid-tour, Poyzer reflects on what makes Come From Away unlike anything you’ll have seen before – and why it’s essential to keep telling this story about the boundless generosity humans were capable of when faced with unprecedented terror.
What’s been the reaction to this award-winning show?
“Often, when you first tell people what the musical is, they pull a little face over a musical about 9/11 set in a remote island in the Atlantic, thinking: ‘How’s that gonna work?’ But it just does. One of the posters on our side of our buildings says Come From Away is ‘One of the best musicals of the century’. That speaks for itself. Don’t worry about the fact that it’s 9/11 and it’s a bit of a strange storyline. I promise you, you’re going to have a really great time. We should be telling those stories during a difficult moment for people both locally and internationally, when there’s a lot going on. I think it’s good to be reminded of how utterly amazing people can be. These people on this tiny island, just said, ‘Yeah, come here all 7,000 of you. We got you. We’ll take care of you, feed you. We’ll clothe you, we’ll give you a bed. We’ll water you, we’ll get your meds sorted out. We’ll take care of your kids. We’ll feed the babies.’ It makes me get goosepimples just talking about it.
It’s so painful and poignant in some ways obviously, as it’s about 9/11 which was a horrific time, but it’s also about human kindness, with people taking care of others during a really difficult time in their lives, and it’s beautiful. It absolutely breaks your heart and also fills you with joy.”
Even though the story is that of 9/11, how is it still relevant to audiences across the UK today?
“The story’s context could be the situation in Gaza. It could be a family coming over here from a foreign country fleeing from war or terror. Humans are at our best when we open our hearts. When we’re fearful, we close doors. Not only do the people who have had doors close on them suffer, but I think if you’re the person who’s acting in fear, you suffer too. Come From Away really demonstrates how amazing it can be to be open.
Those people who met for that brief spell in Gander are friends still to this day. Even being in the cast for this show means we’ve joined a special kind of gang. I think we have a lot to learn from Gander. They have an absolutely open door, open heart policy. I think it’s something we could do with a bit more of and I think it’s just such a wonderful message.
How have you approached playing Beverley, the real-life character whose plane was diverted to Gander on 9/11?
I’ve approached it in the same way that I would like to play either a fictional or a non-fictional character, with a smattering, of course, of the truth of Beverley Bass. I got to speak to Beverley [via a Zoom call].
What I do know is that I’m not doing an impersonation of her. What I’m trying to do is bring her stories to light in the most truthful way I can. She’s a bit more reserved in reality than the Beverley Bass in the show. Being a pilot was very much a man’s world then, which is now for taken for granted. But she’s definitely got a kind of fortitude and incomparable quality to make her say, ‘No, I’m going to be a female pilot’. Her dad, said she couldn’t do it, but she said: ‘I’m flying planes. That’s what I’m going to do’.
So, I definitely take that a bit of that maybe more hidden strength that she has and brought it to the fore for the character. The song that I get to sing called Me And The Sky is just an absolute masterpiece in storytelling. My love is singing, but more than that, it is storytelling. And that song is the brilliant story she tells. It is actually almost verbatim. She said to her dad, ‘I’m going to fly a plane for the rest of my life’, and for planes to then be turned into deadly weapons, was so heartbreaking. Everybody has a heartbreaking story around 9/11, but hers is particularly about her love of aeroplanes, and their being used in such a terrifying and deadly manner.
Tell us more about the quick transitions between the cast playing different characters and the staging audiences can expect during this fast-paced, non-stop show…
The storytelling has to be so clear because there’s not a lot on stage with us. You switch characters with a hat or a jacket, and it’s really important that we create the right images with the little furniture and props that we have. We haven’t got fancy sets. We haven’t got big flying in pieces of sets or big costume changes. It’s all about the actors and the subtle movement of a chair, for example.
The concentration is turned up to max. I’m off stage twice for about 30 seconds throughout the 100 minutes, and I feel myself going, ‘Okay, let’s just have a little bit of a regroup’, because there’s no time, and it has to be so precise on stage. But then I think if you’re storytelling well, it is always going to be exhausting because you need pinpoint accuracy and focus. But it’s such a joy to do it. I hope the audiences feel our love, because I think we feel their love as well. And in fact, today, I did the matinee show and I really welled up at the end of it, because it just felt really moving. It’s important to say there’s a lot of laughter in the show, mixed in with all the heartbreak. There’s loads of really funny stuff that happens in the show, too.
What’s your favourite moment in Come From Away?
The opening and the closing bookends of the show. When we’re all on stage together for the first time, and we sing Welcome to The Rock. We’re going to tell you about this moment in time. And then the end is beautiful and brilliant. Those moments never cease to move me and make me feel dead grateful that I’m in this extraordinary show. I would say if people haven’t booked tickets, they should, because it’s so life affirming, and it’s such a brilliant use of storytelling. And I say that with no element of, ‘Oh, I’m just selling this because I’m in it’. I’m saying that because it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever been in.
Come From Away arrives at Bristol Hippodrome from Tuesday 20 August and runs until Saturday 31 August; atgtickets.com/bristol
