The tactile world of a fishing village embellished with song and movement as a mother and son’s relationship twists to the breaking point

SALT, a new play by writer and director Beau Hopkins, aims to create a unique performance style to immerse audiences in the world of a slowly unfolding family horror in a 1700’s fishing village. Man Billy (Mylo McDonald) and his mother, the Widow Pruttock (Emily Outred), live on the outskirts of this isolated community, where they meet Sheldis (Bess Roche), an alluring traveller with a dark past who threatens their intense and sheltered family relationship.

Audiences enter to sit in a circle around a length of thick rope, coiled in a pool of blue light. As the show begins with a rousing sea shanty, this rope is transformed into a circle creating two worlds – the central action within the circle, and the figures around the outskirts who move in and out of the ‘reality’ of the piece. The cast have developed a tight-knit chemistry, and maintain an acute focus on each other throughout the production, whether they are involved in a scene or watching like hawks from the sidelines. Even with a minimal set, the production weaves together a rich sensory world with carefully selected props. Baskets, stones, bones, knives, nets, reeds, and buckets of water and blood create a tactile environment in which you can almost smell the sea air, and these props double as percussion instruments as the cast add driving rhythms to scenes throughout the show. The songs woven into the story were a powerful addition, with compelling harmonies and a beautiful blend between the three voices (with music directed by Anna Pool and composed by Polly Wright, Anna Buttery, Mylo McDonald, Bess Roche, and Anna Pool). Sarah Calver and Lucy Cullingford’s movement direction added another layer to the storytelling, linking scenes and songs with understated but atmospheric dance.

There were unfortunately some moments where the clarity of the spoken text was lost; the cast’s diction was sometimes overpowered by the resonance of the space, particularly in moments of fast-paced speech or overlapping voices and percussion. The first act of the show was also abstract and philosophical at times, and focused quite heavily on developing the world of the village and painting a picture of Billy’s unique mindset. While this world-building was often intriguing and poetic, the loss of clarity at times meant that some of the description was obscured.

The mysterious stranger Sheldis arrived towards the end of the first act, and at this point the play descended more deeply into a folk horror, as she stressed an already fraught relationship between Billy and his mother to the point of unravelling. This is where the narrative truly found its feet in the exploration of this disturbingly destructive trio. McDonald as Man Billy brought a powerful physicality which easily slipped from boyish to sinister in his character’s darker moments. Outred as the Widow Pruttock is chillingly believable, with a sharply guarded persona strained by undercurrents of deep and turbulent emotions. Roche’s Sheldis was almost disinterested and otherworldly, and as a confident vocalist she moved freely between bawdier sea shanties and more lyrical siren songs. Outred and Roche also shone in brief scenes as other wives in the village, as they shared jokes and gossip which provided breaths of fresh air in an otherwise harrowing tale.

This piece is an exercise in creating a new style or genre of ‘ritual theatre;’ SALT is intended to be a visceral and immersive experience. This concept of viscera is, in many ways, at the core of the piece, as Man Billy yearns to experience the inner workings of the people and world around him, and recurring images of knives and blood draw parallels between fishing and witchcraft. This is also a compelling exploration of a community steeped in superstition; puritanical religion links with folklore to create tense and conflicting beliefs about violence and desire. This piece certainly succeeds in eliciting (visceral) gasps and jumps from the audience in its more startling moments, and despite a slower pace at the start, draws you in through the gripping second act and leaves you feeling truly transported.

Content Notes: This play explores themes of sexual assault, incest, infanticide, and other violence.

SALT is currently running at The Space Theatre on the Isle of Dogs from June 4-8, and will tour the eastern coasts of Scotland and England in 2025, following the herring migration. An excerpt from SALT will be performed at the Cutty Sark’s Sea Shanty Festival in Greenwich in November of 2024.