Over the course of one day in the late summer of 1994 at a coastal nature reserve three very different characters incorporating two volunteers and a Warden reflect on their lives, the natural world around them and their place in it.

It was shortlisted for the 2023 Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize.

From NPX.

Benjamin Peel has done a beautiful job of rendering a motley trio of characters in order to let the issues of the 90s, although truly prescient to today, play out. It starts off moving with Gerald and Kelly at odds about climate issues, which is appropriate because this play is so much about the Land: the Land as Life. An interim for these lost souls to gather themselves up existentially. They deal with the issues they can't change, that make them different, which poetically makes them similar to each other: displacement, family troubles, values. A most wonderful, gentle, delicate play.
7/29/2023

When a stranger washes up on the shores of an isolated religious community long simmering tensions are unleashed and a destructive chain of events unfolds.

It reached the semi-final round of the International Thomas Wolfe Playwriting Competition.

From NPX.

“On an isolated island an ultra-conservative evangelical cult, which keeps its followers adhering to strict dogma that ultimately consigns them to ignorance of the human condition, is upended when a stranger washes ashore. What transpires among the already doubtful cult-members is the ultimate test of faith. Benjamin Peel's 'Children of God' addresses the extremities of celibacy, gender segregation, personality worship, and mass psychogenic illness in this slow burn play. Haunting and disturbing. ”
10/21/2024

“BENJAMIN PEEL’s play, “Children Of God”, is a gripping drama. I was totally engrossed, from the beginning to the end. The cult-like religion, with its hold on people, puts its beliefs and rituals into stark reality. The human condition is seen and felt. I highly recommend this outstanding play. ”
7/20/2024

“Peel's CHILDREN OF GOD contains all the elements of a thought provoking study on ultra conservative communities using religion as a cudgel against their followers. While this play takes place on an isolated island, this story is relevant today with the proliferation of cults through out the United States and the world. For lovers of folk horror like the Wicker Man, you will find much to love in this play. ”
4/7/2024

“I’d love to see a production of Benjamin Peel’s CHILDREN OF GOD, a taut psychological drama. Amid enforced celibacy, stigmatic markings, and fervent belief they are led by “God’s perfection in female form,” deeply indoctrinated followers confront their own beliefs. A stranger washes up on their isolated shores and is mistaken for the Second Coming in the sect’s New Jerusalem. His arrival launches an increasingly fraught reckoning. This powerful historical horror with rich language and meaty roles for a multi-age ensemble boasts a sense of impending doom that kept me on the edge of my seat. ”
5/12/2023

Not A Game For Girls explores the most successful of the women's football teams established to boost wartime morale, following the suspension of all Football League matches at the end of the 1914-15 season. The Dick, Kerr's Ladies team was founded in 1917, based in Preston, Lancashire, and included the player Lily Parr who was honoured with a statue at the National Football Museum in Manchester in 2019.

The play aims to highlight the Dick, Kerr's Ladies story, capturing the spirit and camaraderie that led women to ignore and defy prevailing social attitudes, both on and off the pitch. It shows the prejudices they faced, as well as how their lives and families were affected by the return of men who had been traumatised by trench warfare.

The play ends as the Football Association, threatened by the popularity of the games, banned women from playing on their pitches. Yet the play ends on a hopeful note - the women had proved they could play well, and playing in the team had broadened the players' horizons, leading them to professions and places they might not otherwise have known.

Moving & inspiring --One & Other Creative

Poignant & affecting --The Pocklington Post

Set over three days in an unnamed seaside resort against the backdrop of the 2018 World Cup the play revolves around a young homeless couple who have reached a crossroads in their lives as a lowlife racist drug dealer exploits them and a charity worker tries to help them.

It was performed live via Zoom during a lockdown but has not yet had a stage production.

In the wake of lockdown, theatre has continued to entertain us, but this time from the comfort of our own homes. I have had the privilege throughout lockdown of watching a few pre-recorded theatre performances. After all, how would we cope cooped up inside for this long otherwise? But Up ‘Ere Productions brings us something completely different and more risky, a live theatre performance via Zoom. This is the first performance in a weekly series from Up ‘Ere Productions, entitled #WeeklyWatch, showing every Sunday. The money raised from this new and experimental style of theatre will go towards Oldham Coliseum, helping to keep theatre alive.

As it’s the end of Mental Health Awareness Week, the production began with a spoken word performance by Matt Concannon, a regular collaborator with Up ‘Ere Productions, with his piece entitled ‘Bubbles’. As always, Concannon’s work is poetic and almost mesmerising. One line in particular stood out to me; ‘The bubbles that used to excite me have now become bubbles of anxiety’. A powerful performance.

This was followed by the main feature. ‘Singin’ for England’ is a play from Benjamin Peel, tackling the themes of homelessness and addiction, in which we meet a young, homeless couple at a crossroads in their lives. Considering all four actors rehearsed and performed only via Zoom, never meeting in person, the chemistry between them was strong and their relationships believable. All four actors seemed perfectly cast, with Kyle Rowe as ‘Karl’, Hannah Rose Hughes as ‘Sheree’, Paddy Stafford as ‘Harley’ and Stacey Harcourt as ‘Magda’. Peel’s writing here also aided in this, taking the characters on a journey with his story-telling abilities. Peel’s writing was naturalistic with elements of surrealism and poetry. A well written play that has its viewers invested in the protagonists in the first few minutes.

Directed by John O’Neill and assisted by Jordi Williams, this must not have been an easy task. To successfully direct a new form of theatre in which the actors have a limited playing space and next to no interaction with one another is a feat in itself. However, O’Neill and Williams managed to make it work. The actors’ eye-lines and limited use of props and costume cleverly revealed enough about the characters. We were taken on an emotional journey throughout the performance.

The blending of film and theatre here via the Zoom call took a few minutes to get used to, but was a great new performance platform in which short scenes worked well and quick scene changes were possible. This success is greatly due to O’Neill who worked all of the tech for the live show, muting and unmuting actors where necessary. The attention to detail only added to the performance, such as how each actor’s Zoom name had been changed to their characters’ names. There was a feeling here amongst the viewers of eavesdropping on private and important conversations.

Although there were a few lengthy pauses and some moments of overlapping, the performance as a whole ran incredibly smoothly. This was probably in part due to the ensemble work required to pull off such a feat. I urge you to tune in next week and donate if you can. Let’s help keep theatre alive. After all, when else can you watch live theatre in your pyjamas with a takeaway on your lap?

Reviewer - Megan Relph
on - 24/5/20

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