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Barry Kirk of the Romford Recorder reviews The Good Intent
It has taken an American pilot, former London docker, and a Hornchurch pub to show just how much talent there is in this borough.
Dave Ross and Gerry Sweeney's play about wartime RAF hero, Raimund Sanders Draper started life as a feel-good production for amateur players, but this week sprang onto the Queen's stage as a professional piece of theatre.
The Good Intent, now playing at the Billet Lane venue, tells the true story of the American pilot who in 1942, sacrificed his life by staying with his crippled Spitfire to avoid crash-landing into a full Suttons Lane School, saving many young lives in the process.
The hero now lies in St Andrew's Churchyard, the school has been named after him, and his story has once again been brought back into the public arena.
Originally a community play, The Good Intent was put on at the Queen's twice, with a cast of 54 in the second of the now established annual amateur productions, but this one had all the elements and quality of a local story that needed to be told.
American playboy
Raimund Sanders Draper was an American playboy of rich and socially climbing parents. Research has shown his mother counted Noël Coward and Pablo Cassells among her group of friends, and it seems her son tried to maintain the tradition by racing cars and doing all the fun things that young men of the day did.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Royal Air Force and ended up at RAF Hornchurch flying Spitfires. From there we know only that he fought and died a hero – the rest can only be supposition.
And this is where Dave Ross and Gerry Sweeney's play comes in with a 'what may have been' side to the American's life.
With music by Nick Dawson and Ray Shea, the story brings the heroic action into perspective by placing the man in among the local people at a time of extreme suffering, deprivation and the 'we can take it' spirit that prevailed during those years.
RAF Hornchurch was regularly targeted by the German Luftwaffe, which resulted in suffering and many personal tragedies for the civilians and armed forces alike. It was into this context that the writers put Sanders Draper as a foreigner who became part of the community.
It may not have happened in the way it was portrayed on stage, but there was a strong premise that it may have done. Artistic director of the Queen's, Bob Carlton, first saw the play when he arrived in Hornchurch, and has backed his intuition by including the work into the professional company's repertoire – a remarkable 'first' for local authors.
By adding humour, tragedy and drama into the deft mix, the audience reaction on Monday evening showed that it was what they wanted. From the loud thunder of the Spitfire crashing, to the superb cameo of two air-raid wardens rescuing beer.
Standing in front of the richly utilitarian set by Rodney Ford, the story revolved round the airfield and the local pub.
Ben Goddard played Sanders Draper, the affable but lonely 'yank' who befriends a married woman, Rose, played by Emily Gardner. The action between these two is kept suitably correct, despite husband Jim's appearance as an AWOL (Absent Without Leave) sailor. Played by Nick Lashbrook, he attempts to introduce an element of jealousy into the friendship but fails, and further establishes the stature of Sanders Draper.
Unrequited love
Loveday Smith and Philip Reed added the sub plot with a doomed love story of unrequited love after he fails to return from a flight, bringing a superbly emotional song from Loveday that drew a few hankies out of handbags and pockets.
Musical director Carol Sloman added the stabilising role of the barmaid – bringing calm and as much normality as possible in a difficult time.
And she succeeded despite the best efforts of Richard Emerson, James Earl Adair and Jim Bywater, who managed to perfectly balance the gap between humour and despair. Richard as the black-market spiv and Jim and James as the wardens.
I have said for a long time that the talent in the locality deserves recognition and this production does just that.
We have a local story by local authors and songwriters who tell a tale, perhaps not of pinpoint accuracy, but one that brings a heroic event into the spotlight.
Though this production lacks some of the fizz of recent Queen's offerings, don't make my mistake of expecting something along the lines of an all-singing, all-dancing jolly community play.
This is a serious piece of theatre that reflects people and a time in our history when tomorrow was talked about in hushed whispers.
Like the real-life characters of the era, this is a play that has grown up.
The Good Intent runs until Saturday, November 29, with tickets from £8 to £15 available from the box office on 01708 443333.
