A Boat's Yer Whole World

Background to the show

Ramlin Rose, the boatwoman's story is adapted from the novel by Sheila Stewart. Although fictional it is based on the stories of the women who were Best Mates to their husbands, working the narrow boats of the midlands, and Best Mums to their children, bringing up families whilst constantly on the move.
It is a way of life that is now almost, but not quite, consigned to the history books. There are still working boats and many communities of liveaboards where the same spirit of community and mutual support are alive and well, albeit with a little more living space and a few more creature comforts.

Ramlin Rose: the boatwoman’s story by Sheila Stewart

Sheila had a number of books to her name including ‘Lifting the Latch’ the story of countryman Mont who spent his life on the land in and around Enstone in Oxfordshire. One day a chance remark about coal deliveries prompted to ask ‘were there women on the boats? And families?’
‘Oh yes’ he replied. A hasty calculation made her realise that if any of these women were still alive they would be very elderly and if she was to find them she needed to start soon. An advert in the Banbury Guardian brought her Jenny Glynn, generations of whose family were boat people. One introduction led to another but Sheila found it impossible to write the story of one woman as she had originally planned for the stories they told overlapped, ebbed and flowed and didn’t obey the laws of time that those living in more settled ways were used to. In addition few ever learned to read and write so had different ways of telling stories and linking events.
The result was Ramlin Rose – a fictional character but based on the countless stories of a generation of extraordinary women – Best mate to their husbands, best mum to their children. Women who combined work and family life and did it all whilst constantly on the move at three miles an hour.
I was inspired to adapt Ramlin Rose for the stage by the language and music of the words of all the Rose’s who worked the Oxford canal. It is a story that cries out to be told as well as read.
The book is on sale after the show and can also be found at Waterway museums and via Amazon.

Published by OUP
Amazon link

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2005: Reviews

The Scotsman Aug 8^th 2005

A Boat's Yer Whole World ****

ZOË GREEN

SWEET ON THE GRASSMARKET (VENUE 18)

SKILFULLY adapted from Sheila Stewart's novel, Ramlin Rose, this excellent one-woman show tells the tale of Rose, a boatwoman on the Oxford canal - once an important freight route from the Midlands to the South.

Set between the end of the First World War and the end of the Second, when the canals briefly thrived before their final swansong in the 1950s, A Boat's Yer Whole World is a love story between Rose and her husband, Siah (Josiah), and also between her and the river that is both home and livelihood. Love sustains the couple and helps them to survive years of intense hardship and suffering on the open water - aptly, one of their boats is named The Perseverance.

Kate Saffin is utterly convincing in the role of Rose and manages the Talking Heads-style 40-minute monologue authoritatively. There is no set and no action: everything is dramatised through Rose's reminiscences, a task that would daunt a lesser actress but a challenge to which Saffin is more than equal, merely making good use of the props box and using every inch of the snug stage that is available to her.

As an actress she has a great range, for the part of Rose demands that she is at one moment comic, the next lewd, the next tragic. That there is one occasion when the series of calamities that befall Rose becomes too incredible for pathos is not her fault and this unfortunate flaw in the script is rescued by the happy ending.

Similarly, the only criticism of Saffin is that her words are sometimes lost, for which there is little excuse in such a small venue. Otherwise, this is great value for money and should definitely be seen by more people than the miserable half-dozen who were there at this performance.

http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/reviews.cfm?id=1743052005

Three Weeks Aug 17^th 2005

A Boat’s Yer Whole World ***

Roundham Lock Theatre

“Back then, you used to take what life threw at you and come back fighting.” This is a one-woman play based on a story about a fictional boatwoman who worked and lived on the canals in the Midlands, but is based on the factual stories of many women like her. We follow a touching performance of recollections of her life, through happiness, misfortune and the changes in the wider world after World War Two that caused this pocket of British history to be lost. Kate Saffin makes good use of a simple set, and though it takes a while to get going, this play is a good example of theatre showing you worlds you might not have otherwise discovered.

Sweet on the Grassmarket, 4-29 Aug, 2:00pm, £7.00 (£6.00), fpp 135

tw rating: 3/5

Ed Fringe website: audience reviews

A Gem 11 Aug 2005
reviewer: 3 Caballeros, UK

This is a little gem, brilliantly performed, moving and really evokes what it must have been like to live on narrow boats

A boat's yer whole world 17 Aug 2005
reviewer: RB, uk

Delightful collection of moving, true stories about the hard life of a canal boatwoman. Beautifully portrayed in a clever, all-too-short production. Recommended

Rose in my opinion 26 Aug 2005
reviewer: Adrian Tupper, UK

 

I went along because I saw the reviews and I like canals. The room was nearly full, but that was still only about 25 people. But I much prefer these intimate venues in any case. It started very promptly and rather tamely. One actress telling a story. A bit clichéd in places (you could see the disasters coming) but, thankfully, it wasn't one of those shows that tries to leave you feeling guilty for having such a quiet life. When the show finished I realised that I'd spent much of the time totally absorbed in the gentle yet presumably gripping story. I also felt good and indeed relieved that s story of a tough life doesn't have to be a totally unhappy one.