Our next production

Gail Force 9

by Kate O’Hearn

1-3 May 2025

In 1991, an incident took place in Dover, when a ship crashed into a mooring quay during a severe storm, blocking the entrance to the harbour. As a result, five cross-channel ferries were forced to ride out the storm for eight hours in the English Channel. This unlikely scene forms the backdrop for the Fairlight Players’ Spring 2025 production, “Gail Force Nine”, which premieres between 1-3 May.

Local writer, Kate O’Hearn, happened to be aboard one of these ferries and, while the ordeal is one that most passengers would prefer to forget, Kate has drawn upon this experience (along with several other embarrassing disasters) to create this new comedy, written especially for the Fairlight Players, who celebrate their 75^th anniversary this year. Did I forget to mention that, just for good measure, she decided to throw into the plot a nervous assassin, a seasick cow and a murder? And why not?

Kate will join forces with Giselle Youseman to direct a cast made up of a mixture of Fairlight regulars, plus some new faces.