With last summer's production of 1620: A New World Odyssey scuppered by COVID, rehearsals are now underway for the play to be performed outdoors in July. Written and directed by Eileen Ryan, writer of recent productions The Prisoner of Zenda and Around the World in Eighty Days, the play tells the true story of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower ship, and events during their first year on America's east coast. Around 40 of the passengers were members of a Separatist church who were seeking freedom from religious rules imposed in England. Others boarded the Mayflower to seek their fortunes in trading animal pelts. Finding ways to resolve their differences, to establish a functioning settlement and to live peacefully with their Wampanoag neighbours, were to test the new settlers' tolerance and resilience, and help shape what it means to be an American even in the present day.
Rehearsals began in April on Zoom, then moved outside, and from May 17th will be heading indoors at Jays Green. Funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund has backed a number of Mayflower-linked activities in Harleston over the last year, of which the Mayflower play will be the culmination. 1620: A New World Odyssey will be performed on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July on the Recreation Ground (close to the entrance to the gym) in Harleston. As a community play, there will be plenty of new faces taking part, as well as a gang of children and a sprinkling of Players stalwarts. Four women, who were responsible for organising the first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621, lead the storytelling.