Ghost Town

Limbik Theatre

at The Cut, Halesworth

Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 31st October 2011

Suffolk-based company Limbik create new theatre that explores human stories set in epic environments. They are funded by the Arts Council to develop Ghost Town.

As old gold mines are reopened today, including Bodie in California, this play is a timely reminder how after years of prosperity, comes the fight for survival: ‘every boom has its bust’.

Bodie today is a historic park in ‘arrested decay’, but in the 1880s was a town of 10,000 bustling with families, miners, storeowners, gunfighters, prostitutes and thieves. Money, gold and alcohol led to murders on a daily basis.

The challenge for Ben Samuels, Will Pinchin and Sarah Johnson, in devising and performing the work, was to conjure that atmosphere, together with the dark past that humans carry with them and the prices people pay to get by in hard times.

Versatile Dan Friend, stage side, drew from many instruments live music from spookily haunting to sweeping movie crescendo. It was a perfect soundtrack to the struggles.

It’s a work in progress, and the audience were invited to make suggestions which is a healthy creative dimension. This is a company to watch out for in East Anglia and beyond.