BWW Review: LIFEBOAT Recounts a True Story of Courage, Survival and Enduring Friendship
Winner of the Barclays Stage Award for Best Show for Children and Young People, LIFEBOAT by Nicola McCartney is a true story of courage, survival and enduring friendship set during World War II. In September 1940, a ship, the City of Benares, set sail from Liverpool for Canada. Onboard were 90 evacuees trying to escape the relentless bombing and dangers of war-torn Britain. Four days into its journey, the ship was torpedoed and sank. Only eleven of the evacuees survived, including two fifteen-year-old girls, Bess Walder (Ashley Smith) and Beth Cummings (Hannah Donaldson) who spent 19 terrifying hours in the water on an upturned lifeboat during a harsh, relentless storm. Through their will to survive in spite of their dire situation, they endured to tell their story so the bitter consequences of World War II on so many innocent, young children will never be forgotten.
