At today’s final performance of Between Two Tides smiles rippled through the audience as carefully constructed seabirds held aloft by our performers swooped into the hands of some delighted pupils from Easington Church of England Primary Academy. It was a gesture which reflected how we can find connections with each other, and across generations, through nature and the language of place. On a beautifully clear May day, an encroaching tide, though safely distant from the closing moments of a perfectly timed performance, was at once a potent reminder of the transience of place and the might of the sea. The water’s eventual erasure of the stage perimeter reinforced the importance of capturing something of the interactions which had taken place there. Writers through the ages have aimed at this through poetry and prose, and the generosity of the local community in sharing their memories and experiences means that we can continue to appreciate the evolving story of this dramatic coastline.
