Musical about the country's first ever lifeboat to set sail at village theatre

A musical about the country’s first ever lifeboat - a concept which would go on to save countless lives - sets sail next month.

The Little Theatre in Cleadon is staging Lifeboat The Musical from September 8-12, telling the story of the first lifeboat built on the banks of the River Tyne in South Tyneside.

South Shields is also home to Britain's second oldest preserved lifeboat, the Tyne, which is located at the Wouldhave Memorial on Ocean Road. Her crews saved 1028 stricken mariners in six decades of service in the 19th century.

The musical tells the story of Willie Wouldhave and his wife Hannah as they fight for their right to the claim of being the sole inventors of the most miraculous maritime invention, with a live band joining them on stage.

It’s the brainchild of two South Tyneside-born artists, Ron Bell and Ray Craig.

“Ray and I wrote it many years ago” explains Ron. The pair were in local bands in the past with a series of single releases to their names.

He added: “When all that died down we wanted to test our musical and playwriting skills to a local history story.

“All the characters involved - all the skullduggery and civic pride and the interactions between the protagonists in the story made it a really exciting story to get our teeth into.”

The concept of a play about the local history of the lifeboat may be familiar to some thanks to a previous effort from the pair which was performed at the Westovian Theatre in South Shields in the ‘90s, but the play has been adapted since then.

“Modern life gets in the way” explained Ron, who added both men moved away from the area and have since retired. They still regularly visit the region.

“Then we had this opportunity with The Little Theatre.

“I’ve been working on the script and modernising it. The cultural landscape has changed. We’ve made it more relevant to a contemporary audience.”

This includes the introduction of a town crier character to help tell the story as well as songs which were removed from the previous production as well as a brand new song.

“I want to give a lot of credit to The Little Theatre for being so adventurous” added Ron.

“It’s something they haven’t done before, a big musical - to have an original musical too!”

South Shields has a rich maritime heritage and a short distance away from the Tyne Lifeboat is the headquarters of the Volunteer Life Brigade whose members have saved countless lives since 1866.

They were one of the very first voluntary life brigades and they were the first to save life from a shipwreck using the breeches buoy.

*Lifeboat The Musical is at The Little Theatre in Cleadon from September 8-12. Tickets are priced £15 from https://www.thelittletheatrecleadon.co.uk/