Play brings the Siege of Colchester to life

YOU'VE all heard of the Siege of Colchester of 1648.

Of course you have. Lucas and Lisle, Fairfax and who can forget Humpty Dumpty.

But what about the people who lived through perhaps one of the town's most traumatic events? What must have it been like for them, battling with starvation, family loyalties and basically trying to survive.

Well writer Paul T Davies, director Paula Baker, along with her brilliant cast, does a pretty good job in taking us there.

Bury Me In Colchester Mud was essentially inspired by a scene Paul wrote for last year's Uninhabited show which took place at the same venue.

This time around he has explored the Siege in greater detail focusing on one family, The Barnes, as they seek refuge in St Martin's Church while struggling to find food, any food.

As well as seeking out the rats and cats to eat, The Barnes have the threat of witchcraft hanging over them. Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General had only retired the previous year and so devilment was still very much in the air.

In Bury Me Rebecca Thorpe, a brilliant performance by Clare McCall, is our suspect, a young woman who not only has a cat but cures people with herbs.

This could have been a play in itself but with the fear and hatred stirred up by the Siege, it very neatly slipped into proceedings.

And that's kind of what made this play fascinating to watch. Real people, you could empathise with, dealing with an horrific event which has turned their lives upside down.

It doesn't matter these people existed more than 350 years ago, see the interviews of the poor families in Aleppo dealing with the Syrian War and you'll know, rather sadly, that this play is as relevant today as it was then.

In Paul's story we even have a Roundhead soldier dealing with 17th Century equivalent of post traumatic stress disorder.

Of course to make this all work you need great acting and director Paula Baker has struck gold with the likes of Shane Ely-Whitworth, Caroline Roberts, Phoebe Stringer and Ben Maytham.

There's also Jacko Lang, who delivers a haunting figure as the stressed out soldier, Jazz Ely-Whitworth's jolly girl about town, and William Hastings, who makes a far too brief outing as Sir Charles Lucas.

Bury Me is also fortunate to have a gorgeous atmospheric soundtrack thanks to the very talented Connor McBurney. With a simple choral old folky vibe, I'm still humming the terribly catchy, and yet sombre, refrain of the title song.

There were things I could have done without such as some of the more stylised moments of whispering and dance, and perhaps the attention to detail with the dialogue, which it didn't really need.

This was a kitchen sink drama, 17th Century style, and so sometimes the speech, although historically accurate, did get in the way of the story.

Those are very minor criticisms though because in terms of bringing history to life, Bury Me actually goes one step further and transports the audience into history itself, the characters there for all to see.

Not only should local schools be getting this on their curriculum, the council should include it in their annual tourism plan because while it may be one of the town's more darkest hours, it's a story that requires telling today, to as many people as possible.

NEIL D'ARCY-JONES