THE WARMHOUSE

Seventy-two fishing boats worked out of the harbour in its heyday and Connie’s Warmhouse used to be packed with fisherman who netted good catches and turned up with banknotes poking out of their pockets. Now the last fishing boat has been chocked up, but the group of people who were dependent on the local establishment still continues to come every day, recalling tales of the good old times, and harking back to a simpler age. Simultaneously heart-warming and melancholic, The Warmhouse is a slice of social realism full of humour and tragic depth. The play is set in the month before Christmas and as is customary for any Christmas tale it ends with a glimmer of hope for its characters. Hope notwithstanding, ‘the play never descends into just feel-good drama’, as one critic put it.