A good while ago, my local BBC radio station was running a competition for local playwrights.
I forget the rules in detail, but the idea was that the play ran for about ten to fifteen minutes and had a link to the area.
The radio station in question is called Radio Solent. For those that don’t know, The Solent is a twenty-mile long strait that separates the Isle of Wight from the UK Mainland. On its coast are some great port cities, such as Southampton, the port from where the Titanic sailed.
Further east is Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy. Portsmouth is the home of Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, which is still a commissioned naval vessel. But a stones throw from that majestic ship sits the Mary Rose, flagship of Henry VIII’s navy.
This ship sank in The Solent in unexplained circumstances in 1545 and remained resting in the depths of the murky waters for over four-hundred years, preserved by layers of fine silt.
On the 11th October 1982, I watched on television as the ship was raised in a bright yellow frame. I was eight years old.
The Mary Rose was our school project for what felt like forever, and I lost count of the number of times I rendered the Tudor carrack with colouring pencils. I felt like I knew every inch of that ship. Margaret Rule, who was one of those heavily involved in the maritime architecture and raising even came to our school, and she was tremendously famous as she had been on Blue Peter.
So, you see, I really had no choice but to make my competition entry reflect something nautical and naval, especially as a resident of Gosport, which is just a short ferry ride from the Portsmouth Royal Naval Dockyard.
Gosport is a wonderful town, and would have been no stranger to the shenanigans that my play describes. Why not read on? I do so hope that you enjoy it!
Read on to Act One of “First Impressions.”
Buy “Gone to the Dogs,” the comedy novel by Simon Gary
If you like the local history of the Solent area, here are a couple of books that you may be interested in.
“Going Over the Water: Memories of the Gosport Ferry” compiled by David Gary.
“Memories of Haslar: Staff and Patients Write About Britain’s Best-Loved Hospital” compiled by Eric Birbeck and David Gary.
Both these titles, and many more are available from Chaplain Books.