In Our Hands is based on the true story of Stefan Glinski, a once struggling fisherman who came to change our fish consumption habits, Smoking Apples weave a story with puppetry and an original score to explain crippling EU legislation in trawler fishing that will be up for debate as Brexit negotiations continue. The quotas featured heavily in Nigel Farage’s Leave.EU campaign, and led to frustrated fisherman rallying behind him in his much-mocked Thames cruise.
In Our Hands now tours to large and rural venues across the country with the story of Alf, a once successful fisherman now being squeezed out of the market by the manipulation of EU quotas by large corporations.
Alf is a trawler fisherman whose experience, camaraderie and loyalty have put him and his boat at the top of the game. But times are changing and so is the industry. How will Alf adapt in order to survive? Following the journey of a fish from sea to plate, a seagull’s ridiculous attempt to find food and a father and son’s reunion, In Our Hands uses innovative puppetry and inventive staging to explain the tangled net of legislation that is the plight of small fishing businesses. From the depths of despair, Alf will rise again and rescue the life he loves.
In Our Hands has been developed both in London and Cornwall with the company undertaking extensive research in Newlyn, Penzance and St Ives. During this time, the company met Stefan Glinski, a fisherman who saw the potential in fishing sardines, adapted his boat to catch them and is almost single handedly responsible for their rise in popularity and the now hugely successful Cornish Sardine industry. Stefan’s story inspired part of the narrative of In Our Hands.
With a dynamic set designed by Samuel Wyer (Alice’s Adventures Underground, Les Enfants Terribles’ The Trench, National Theatre’s The Elephantom), Jo Walker’s original score (Paper Cinema’s The Odyssey) and Sherry Coenen’s lighting design, In Our Hands explores the very real difficulties faced by the fishing industry, and those working within it, in a humorous, imaginative and visually stunning way.
The cast includes: Luke Breen, George Bellamy, Molly Freeman, Matthew Lloyd and Hattie Thomas. In Our Hands will tour 13th September to 13th October and full details can be found here.
