Theatre is never more satisfying than when it bears the stamp of authenticity, and few theatrical experiences are more authentic than this.
Not only did writer Stephen Clark spend several months collecting the stories of lifeboatmen and their families, director Daniel Slater actually spent his student years with a rookie RNLI crew. Their experience enflames a scorching family drama in which you can smell the danger and taste the salt.
Mike, an RNLI coxswain approaching retirement, is wedded to his boat, which relegates his long-suffering wife Ruth to a poor second. His behaviour seems set to be repeated by his son, Luke, whose girlfriend fumes that she might get more attention if she were painted orange and had an ariel sticking out of her head.
"Going out is the easy bit," states Mike. "It's the waiting that's hard." And Clark brilliantly conveys the pressures of maintaining a relationship in a constant state of interruption and anxiety.
A distress call can come at any time, causing a trolley of groceries to be abandoned in the supermarket or, in one terrific scene, during a fancy-dress fundraiser, sending the crew out dressed as the Village People.
While the lifeboatmen are honoured to observe the two-mile rule which keeps them close to their stations, Mike's eldest son Sam has opted to flee as far away as possible. While his father and brother battle the bitter waters on Teesside, he crests the dotcom wave in the US. His first return home in five years whips up a family storm of force-9 proportions.
Clark demonstrates a handsome ability to articulate all moral standpoints from several perspectives at once. Sam's reappearance shows that devotion to duty could be an excuse for clinging to limited horizons, and the desire to escape a callow abdication of responsibility.
The acting and production are superb. Geoff Leesley puts full patriarchal heft into the role of Mike, prompting an equally forceful response from Charlie Hardwick as his wife Ruth, whose capacity for self-sacrifice demonstrates the play's point that a vocation dedicated to saving lives can inadvertently capsize others.
· Until May 24. Box office: 01723 370541.
