Our mission

Our Mission

Who are we and why are we different?

BOATS stands for Based On A True Story. We stage new writing which explores our relationship with real events, and especially with the past.

We undertake different types of theatre work:

Theatre productions, exploring stories from the past and our relationship with it
Local and community history evenings, using drama to help people discover the past of their living and working communities
Workshops for students, teachers and writers, exploring how theatre can be used to explore themes from the past and their hold over the present

Based on a true Story?

Why should it matter that a play or a film is ‘based on a true story’? Why do writers and directors bother to tell us? It clearly does matter, because as soon as those words appear on the screen or in the theatre programme, we sit up and take notice: this is a true story, this really happened. And at the end we want to know – how much was real? How much was the author’s invention?

But what does ‘real’ mean? How can a drama tell the ‘truth’ about real events? Does it have to be historically accurate, or does its ’truth’ lie elsewhere? Do historical characters come alive ‘on stage’, or are they fictional characters who happen to have the same name and wear the same clothes as people in the past?

What does it mean, to say a piece of drama is Based On A True Story? That is what BOATS Theatre is all about and it’s what we seek to find out. Come and join us as we explore!

The Boats Crew

Sean Lang

Ship Captain – Artistic director

Sean is the Artistic Director of BOATS theatre. He’s an award-winning playwright and a professional historian: he has been teaching history for years to every age group from primary school to postgraduates. He also broadcasts regularly on radio and has appeared frequently on television. He has written many scripts of plays either set in the past or exploring our relationship with it, including a series of plays telling the story of the big decisions of the First World War and their impact on the people caught up in the conflict. He believes strongly that everyone has a right to know and engage with history and that theatre is a powerful way of opening it to them.

Penelope Saunders

Navigator – Program Manager

Penelope is a trained actor and project manager with a background in engineering. First appearing on stage in 2021 in The Playboy of The Western World at the ADC Theatre, Cambridge, Penelope has continued to grow her skills as an actor, studying movement, voice, clown, and Shakespeare, performing regularly across Cambridge and London. Using her experience and knowledge of both theatre and tech, you can find her both onstage and offstage helping to coordinate the production program and make sure tasks are done on time and on budget.

Richard Purkiss

Shipmate

With a career in theatre and music management behind him, Richard brings his experience on board. He has acting and directing credits for plays, musicals and operas performed in and around the Cambridge area, and was delighted and honoured to direct Paper Trail for BOATS’ inaugural production. This may not be the whole story, but it’s all true.

Naz Yeni

Stowaway

Naz is a theatre-maker and a movement practitioner as well as an academic researcher and a university lecturer. She initially trained classically as an actor in Turkey and the UK followed by a keen interest in teaching, then directing, and then all kinds of things ‘post’. This led her to retrain in physical theatre and investigate contemporary approaches to performance. She also practices applied drama and dance within wellbeing and health contexts. During the lockdown she founded Seyyar Kumpanya, a theatre ensemble formed by first-generation migrant performers in London. When she grows up, she wants to sail on international waters.