Come From Away on tour review – thank cod it’s back

They say everything starts and ends at Tim Hortons. It’s almost true in the case of the first-ever Come From Away UK and Ireland tour – starting at Curve in Leicester, conveniently close to a Tim Hortons.

Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s heartwarming – and heartbreaking – musical celebrates a small town’s hospitality when diverted planes landed in the wake of 9/11. It’s here that we meet the locals; one half of Gander’s two-person police department, a school bus driver on strike, a reporter having an eventful first day and the manager of the animal hospital – and learn where they all were when they heard the news.

With the buttoning of a jacket and the change of an expression, the locals switch into the ‘plane people’ – first panicked, then bored, then jolly from the duty free, then scared. The transitions seem effortless, with credit to the cast who quite literally switch at a drop of a hat, and to Howell Binkley’s beautiful lighting design which flicks from warm golds to deep blues as spotlights illuminate vocalised thoughts and feelings.

Routine life on ‘the Rock’; cookouts and hockey games are interrupted with blocked toilets and supermarket sweeps. The words, candid but careful, pop with authentic accents from Egyptian to English to Newfoundlander, as Sankoff and Hein’s toe-tapping score fuses Gaelic folk song, pop ballads and gentle lullaby.

Under Andrew Corcoran’s musical direction, the band peek from behind tall dark wood trees. They take centre stage (with their accordions, fiddles, bass guitar, and even an ugly stick!) to participate in the “Screech In”, led with gusto by Nicholas Pound as the trusty town mayor. It’s a joyful scene as the come from away-ers shot whiskey and kiss freshly caught cod as an initiation – and the band’s involvement adds to the knees-up festivities.

Mix match wooden chairs become cramped airplane seats, bumpy bus rides, church pews and the place where the continents once met. Kelly Devine’s harmonious movement is subtle but effective; an outstretched arm, an intake of breath straightening their backs, a sidewards glance. Crucially, it feels so incredibly real.

Over the five days, relationships become fraught (Mark Dugdale and Jamal Zulfiqar’s differences surface as the Kevins) while others awkwardly blossom (Kirsty Hoiles and Daniel Crowder are a beautifully charismatic duo as Nick and Diane), and tender friendships develop (Amanda Henderson and Bree Smith portray mothers with unwavering protective instincts desperate for news in a pre-mobile phone world).

Christopher Ashley’s direction doesn’t shy from shifting to the uglier tones. Prejudices rise with anxieties, and we see a Muslim passenger treated with hostility, a gay couple worried about being in a backwater town, and a Jewish passenger who has felt he has had to hide his identity. These quieter scenes are filled with pain and contemplation. “Prayer” sees Arabic, Hebrew, and Hindi languages blend, with Oliver Jacobson’s voice particularly poignant as a rabbi. As Beverley Bass, American Airlines’ first female captain, Sara Poyzer’s “Me and the Sky” whirls with turmoil, her voice breaking on the last line with emotion.

Ten thousand residents of Gander, Newfoundland welcomed over 6,500 strangers into their town in September 2001. This Come From Away company, from the front of the stage right to the back, are telling these stories with all their might – and I have a feeling that each time you return, you’ll spot something new, but feel something familiar.

Thank cod it’s back!