Play shows pouring sewage into the harbour is nothing new

“Who would have believed that 120 years ago local water companies would pump untreated sewage into Emsworth harbour, the famous home of the finest oyster beds in Europe?”

John promises “the captivating story of an Edwardian woman’s personal liberation set against the fight for suffrage and the death of the Victorian oyster industry”, with Paula Tinker giving a virtuoso performance in a one-woman, one-act script by Lucy Flannery and Greg Mosse.

It will delight with its clever combination of comedy and pathos, sharp dialogue and unexpected plot twists, John says – plus John’s original songs which he will himself accompany on stage.

“The show is set in December 1918. Elizabeth Wells is preparing a concert to celebrate women’s suffrage and the end of the Great War. But she cannot celebrate the future without reconciling herself to her tragic past.”

After a short interval there will be a chance for the audience to join in more songs of the sea and have an informal chat with the performers. Peformances will be in Emsworth Community Centre for one night only on May 3 (tickets from the centre) and in West Ashling Village Hall on May 4 (tickets from Eventbrite) before performances at Barons Court Theatre, London from May 21-25.

“It was first done about six years ago and Lucy and Greg approached me and said would I write some musical bits for it. We put it together and did a lovely local tour. The show is about poisoned beds which is a double entendre – about the Emsworth oyster industry and also the poisoned relationship that she has with her husband.

“It's a one-woman show and Paula is phenomenal. She inhabits the part and does all the different voices for all the other characters. You look at her and it's suddenly somebody else on the stage. She's really got it... whatever it is!

“The conceit is that it is a rehearsal for a celebratory show at the end of World War One to celebrate the war and to celebrate women's suffrage. I am on stage as a musician and Paula's character can't carry on without reliving her past life and the things that she has been through. She's a very strong person. She has had to put up with an awful lot of mental abuse and some physical abuse from her husband. She is resilient, I would say.

“One of her concerns is the fact that they put in these new conduits in Emsworth to take away the waste and she goes to see her uncle who is an alderman. She said that the water was turbid and opaque and that she was worried that the sewage outfall was too close to the oyster beds. This was at a time when Emsworth was selling 100,000 oysters a week. It's a massive industry and the whole town depended on it. She goes to see the alderman and reports her worries but she is rebuffed.”

As a result lives are lost.

“Greg and Lucy wrote it and they were pretty pleased with it but it was obvious that it was going to be relentlessly dour so they wanted to introduce some songs which is what I have done."