When The Boat Comes In (2019) was another students IPAR that I had the pleasure to be a part of. The social context of the show was one of the first of its kind that I had experienced—a play that told a true story whilst educating the viewer on the history and politics of the time period. The shows content – the declining fishing industry of Grimsby, and the cruelty and lack of health and safety measures that occupation provided was always going to be a hard one to convey.  Whilst the content was not my own, my own interpretation of the performance was, and we were all invited to make our own particular characters and place them in a social context of history.

I felt a moral and social responsibility to convey the character in relation to the social context. I felt with each rehearsal my social awareness, and perhaps even political awareness increase over the duration of the rehearsal process. This was a show that had the potential to be shown to people who’s lives were directly affected by the fishing industry, a notion that held a lot of weight when performing.  

Overall I learned how to become a more aware performer, not of myself, but of the content I was performing, content that was held precious to peoples lives and memories. Being able to convey that was not only a pleasure, it was a challenge, but one that I overcame.