Falklands War-inspired new play Undertow: 1982 looks at the lives of those back in Portsmouth

More than 250 brave members of our armed forces lost their lives in the conflict, thousands of miles from home.

And in this 40th anniversary year we have rightly remembered those who served, and those who never returned.

But the contribution of those who played their part back home is often overlooked. And here in Portsmouth, civilians played a huge role – particularly in readying the fleet to sail to the South Pacific.

A new play, Undertow: 1982, looks at the domestic side of the equation, and will be touring the region throughout October and November, purposely playing in social clubs, church halls and the like rather than typical theatres.

The production tells the story of two young women, set in 1982 against the backdrop of the war, unrest in Eastern Europe, economic turmoil, and the closure of Portsmouth dockyard.

The play is written and directed by Scott Ramsay with his company People and Stories.

‘I love history and finding out about places. When I moved here it was a treasure-trove to explore the past and the culture,’ Scott moved here in 2017 to take over as artistic director at the city’s New Theatre Royal, serving three years in the role. He soon came to realise that the story of that period in Portsmouth’s past had not been told through the arts.

‘I was feeling what happened here in 1981/82/83, around the dockyard closures – the frustration around that hadn't gone away, but hadn't necessarily been exploited culturally. So I thought there was something there about how it feels to be one minute told you are very relevant and we need you – and that happened with the Falklands – and then immediately before and after that being told that you're irrelevant, you're surplus to requirements.’

’There was a huge drive to reduce the workforce of anything attached to the state, and that was something which stayed in my mind.

‘There were things about being in a port city and about a maritime past. Maritime cities tend to have strong women at the heart of them because traditionally they're the ones left behind, they've had to get on with it, raise the families and so on.

‘I thought that hadn't really been tapped in to as a story either.

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‘Then the third thing, which came along last year, was the realisation that it was going to be the 40th anniversary of the Falklands conflict.’

While there were the usual commemorative services and so on, which Scott is quick to praise, he adds: ‘But it's largely to the same group of people, the people who are already in that circle because they're veterans, or because they're part of the armed forces.’

Scott is keen to bring this story to a wider audience: ‘One of the powerful things about art and culture is that you can broaden who's involved in that conversation and make it more accessible, so I brought these things together to tell this story which is set in 1982 in a social club.

‘Social clubs and pubs and things like that were obviously very important then. We have three main characters, all female. Stella,’ played by Nathalie Gunn, ‘who runs the club and two 16-year-olds, one from Portsmouth from a typical housing estate,’ played by Emily Alice Ambrose, ‘and the other is a Polish refugee who's come over because her family were being clamped down on by the junta in Poland – we had a huge wave of polish refugees in 1982.’ The latter is played by Polish national Julia Grela.

Scott also plays ‘the minor role of Derek, who provides some light relief,’ – his first time acting in some time.

‘Derek works at the dockyards and is one of those who's given his redundancy notice and then has to go back and work.

‘I'm really looking forward to that as I haven't had the opportunity to be on stage for quite a few years.

‘I did have to go on once (at New Theatre Royal’s 2019 Christmas show) as The Nutcracker Prince because our actor fell very ill, so I donned the outfit and on I went which was very enjoyable, but generally you can't do everything!’

When creating Undertow: 1982, Scott says he was consciously looking at parallels between then and now. ‘I like to hold the mirror up to another period and another place and where we are today – there's so many things where you go: oh my gosh, that's like it is today. With Ukraine for example, there's a lot of similarities there, there's also the economic situation - with the cost of living, the economy's not in great shape, but there’s also this ongoing debate about how far you go to protect your territory and self-determination.

‘One of the examples I give is, how would Britain react is Spain invaded Gibraltar tomorrow?

‘When the news first started talking about the Falkland Islands, people went, “Where's that? What's that got to do with us?” But of course it was all about that and self-determination – the Falklanders said they didn't want to lose that Britishness. And territory – we see it in Ukraine at the moment, and being ready to defend what you feel needs to be defended.’

However, Scott is keen to reinforce that this is not intended as a documentary or history lesson.

‘All of these issues are gone into, but it's also a great night out. As we are able to do in arts and culture, you go in as if you're in a social club – we have a live band, who are playing hits from the period – it's great fun, lots of laughter, but underneath it all, is also quite an impactful message, and these characters are going on a journey. People will be moved by the end of it. We pay respects to those that were lost but in a very tasteful way that's not necessarily happened in this way. I’m quite proud that we're doing something to mark the 40th, but it's not a play that's like: “Here's the Falklands War, here’s what happened”. It's not about that, and it wouldn't be right to do that, I don't think. It's more about taking a domestic route and coming at it from an oblique angle.

‘It's important because it wouldn't have happened without those thousands of people rallying together to get that fleet out.’

Associate director Sophia Weygang. 21, is originally from Gloucester. ‘Growing up, we did politics in school and it was very much brushed over. Nothing much was said: “It happened, now go watch Billy Elliot.”

‘Then coming here and learning about the history and how the people of Portsmouth were affected, it's really interesting. I didn't know of it until I immersed myself in to this show.’​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

And she is encouraging other young people to come along and learn more about this key moment in our recent history.

‘When you think of things like Stranger Things, the music from that time is emerging again as a trend now, so I think young people especially should come and see the show and relive that period, realise what was happening at the time – not just as a trend, but as something that did happen in history.’

The setting of the play, and the way it is staged is also important to Scott and Sophia in trying to bring in audiences who don’t normally ‘do’ theatre.

‘It's kind of exciting to be exploring this kind of theatre,’ says Scott. ‘You might call it gig-theatre, you might call it music theatre, but we're bringing live music into it with this thrilling immersive theatre telling a story which is very local.

‘The stage is like a dancefloor and there's tables all the way around it, and that's where the audience are, with the band at the top end.

‘We’re going to a lot of actual social clubs – we open at the Dockyard Club in Southsea, but we're all over the place. It's important to me that we're not just thinking about Portsmouth, so we're going to Gosport, Stubbington… When HMS Sheffield went down, a lot of them lived in Stubbington, so if you go into the church there, there's a memorial there for them. We're going to Fareham, Lee-on-The-Solent, Cosham, Havant, Hilsea Lido.

‘It's also about getting people in who might not normally go to the theatre, or see a "normal" musical or a play. It's only an hour and 10 minutes, so it's not two-and-a-half, three hours, it is like a night out, people can have a drink and a chat before and after – it's something a bit different.’

The tour dates

The tour kicked off on Sunday and takes in 16 shows across the region.

All tickets are free, but do need to be booked in advance. Go to eventbrite.co.uk.

:: Friday, October 7: St Faith’s Parish Centre, Lee-on-the-Solent

:: Friday, October 14: St Faith’s Church Hall, Gosport

:: Saturday, October 15: Portsmouth Methodist Church, Southsea

:: Wednesday, October 19: The Blue Lagoon, Hilsea Lido

:: Thursday, October 20: The Dockyard Club, Southsea

:: Saturday, October 22: St Luke’s Church, Central Portsmouth

:: Wednesday, October 26: D-Day Memorial Hall, Southwick

:: Thursday, October 27: The Crofton Club, Stubbington

:: Friday, Octbober 28: St Philip’s Church Hall, Cosham

:: Thursday, November 3: Groundlings Theatre, Portsea

:: Friday, November 4: Ex-Servicemen’s Club, Havant

:: Wednesday, November 9: Hill Park Working Men’s Club, Fareham

:: Thursday, November 10: Park Community Theatre, Havant

:: Friday, November 11: Thorngate Halls, Gosport

:: Saturday, November 12: Milton Village Hall, Milton

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