I can say with some confidence that you will never have seen anything like Salt, the debut production of Contemporary Ritual Theatre, an exciting new company founded to create theatre in Great Yarmouth, where the play was first seen in 2024. In Beau Hopkins’ extraordinary play – immersive to the point of drowning – three actors conjure a weather – and water-beaten place and time with nothing but their life force, shanties and a handful of props.
Salt takes place in East Norfolk in the late 18th century, where lives are “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”, utterly dominated by the sea. A God-fearing woman, the Widow Pruttock (Emily Outred), ekes out an existence while protecting her chaotic son, Man Billy (Mylo McDonald), who longs to go to sea and to avenge his father’s murder. The circle of trust between these two – symbolised by a length of sea-salted rope – is strong and dark, but when Sheldis (Bess Roche), a raucously sinister Irish traveller, arrives in the town, everything will come to change.
Salt, which Beau Hopkins also directs, is a genuine ensemble – a seamless collaboration with the actors, the lighting team (Tim Tracey and Lucinda Bray), the movement director (Lucy Cullingford), and the musical director (Anna Pool), not forgetting Amanda Harrold’s startling, evocative costumes.
Salt is strongly rhythmic, visceral, other-worldly theatre, and quite unforgettable.
Highly recommended.
Review by Louis Mazzini
“I’m going out wi’ th’ tide, old wench,
I came in on the flood;
an’ the sea is streaked wi’ silver,
an’ the sun is red wi’ blood.”
The East Norfolk coast. 1770. Man Billy, a violent young fisherman, lives among the dunes with his domineering Mother, Widow Pruttock, in a wild, brutal world ruled by superstition and the dark beat of the sea. Into this savage life comes Sheldis, a travelling singer with supernatural gifts. As Billy’s obsession with her grows, his Mother, believing him bewitched, will do anything to break the spell.
Cast: Emily Outred, Mylo McDonald, Bess Roche
Written and directed by Beau Hopkins
Producer Lucy Farrant: LJ Hope Productions
Composer and musical director Anna Pool
Movement director Lucy Cullingford
Lighting designer Tim Tracey
Stage manager Lucinda Bray
Costume Amanda Harrold
Hair and make-up Hayley Bird
Body art Suzie Mason
Casting Cameron Culver
Graphic design Jason Booher and George Payne
Trailer Marcin Rodwell and Denzil Dean
Photography Peter Morgan
Original song Polly Wright
Original music composed by Anna Buttery, Mylo McDonald, Bess Roche and Anna Pool
SALT
Riverside Studios
3 to 15 March 2026
