Eastern Angles’ latest touring theatre production is coming to Hungate Church in Beccles next Friday, March 20.

Entitled Oysters, the new play is written and directed by the group’s artistic director, Ivan Cutting.

Combining local fact and contemporary storytelling, the play captures the soul of an ancient East Anglian industry, celebrating the past by putting it on stage. Focusing on the restoration of an Essex Oyster Smack, the show incorporates oral history accounts of boatbuilding and oyster cultivation with the fictional story of an Essex boat builder and his intriguing family back-story.

The main character, Mo has just turned fifty and is busy restoring an oyster dredger recovered from an Essex riverbed. Helping him bring the boat back to life is Angie, a young apprentice with a chip on her shoulder. Also in the frame are Kasey an intern from the local university, Pamela the formidable fundraiser in charge of the restoration project and the mystical Pearl, an Earth Mother with a potent story to tell. Oysters has been researched and developed as part of the Pioneer Sailing Trust Land and Sea project, which is focused on restoring the 1893 Oyster Smack Priscilla, and is touring the region until June 6.

The show will start at 7.30pm and tickets cost £8.50 or £7.50 for concessions from the box office on 01502 712366.