AMATA Students Commissioned to Create Historic Performance Piece

Falmouth’s Academy of Music & Theatre Arts has been commissioned by The Box, Plymouth, to create and deliver a performance about the historic Eddystone Lighthouses.

The Eddystone Rocks are an extensive reef approximately 12 miles from Plymouth Sound – historically, one of the most important naval harbours in England – sitting midway between Lizard Point, Cornwall and Start Point. The first Eddystone Lighthouse was lit in 1698 and has been an integral part of the coast since then. It’s now on its fourth adaption, or fourth lighthouse.

Find out more about the
Academy of Music & Theatre Arts

The play, Keeper of the Light, has been written by Simon Turley and directed by Mark Laville, Senior Lecturer and Course-Coordinator for BA(Hons) Theatre and Performance. It will be performed by an auditioned company of students from BA(Hons) Acting and BA(Hons) Theatre and Performance, with costumes also designed by the students.

The performance will be made up of a total of nine stories, written by Simon Turley in response to archive materials and interviews with lighthouse keepers.

Each piece will “share unique stories of resilience, courage, fear and humanity from the smallest of spaces in the widest, deepest and sometimes, the angriest of seas.”

The show will take place in the iconic Smeaton’s Tower Lighthouse on Plymouth Hoe during May and June 2019, as part of Plymouth’s History Festival. After that, it will play in repertoire throughout the year, and potentially as part of The Box opening in 2020. 

The Box is the new Museum and Cultural Centre for Plymouth and the South West. Previously known as the Plymouth History Centre, The Box is a major redevelopment scheme and a symbol for the city’s current regeneration and future. 

The Keeper of the Light project will also be the subject of a short documentary film, commissioned by The Box. 

Find out more about the show (and how to book tickets) here.

Painting credit:

Eddystone Lighthouse, during a storm by Daniell, William.  © The Box (Plymouth City Council)