Our Real Life Come From Away

Many of us above a certain age can remember where we were on 11 September 2001, but Come From Away cast member Holly Dawson doesn’t have many memories of that day. Her father, Julian, was a passenger on a United Airlines flight from Heathrow that didn’t arrive in its intended destination of Chicago, but was instead redirected to the remote island of Newfoundland, Canada, when the USA airspace was closed for the first time in history. Holly’s memories return the following day, when she and her family finally heard the news that Julian was safe and well in Canada, a real life come from away (a term of endearment from Newfoundlanders, meaning “someone who is from somewhere else”).

In Festival Players’ production of Come From Away, Holly plays Diane, a woman who finds herself stranded in Gander, Newfoundland, and finds love with another of the 'Come From Aways'. You might have seen Holly in recent years in Festival Players’ Little Shop of Horrors or Urinetown, or Between the Bars’ production of Amélie: The Musical. Julian and his fellow passengers didn’t have any warning when their plane suddenly dropped 30,000 feet on the morning of 11 September. He was sat up front, opposite an ashen-faced member of the cabin crew who said to him “if I told you [what was happening], you wouldn’t believe me”. The pilot then apologised to the passengers for frightening them, reassured them that their plane was healthy, but that they would need to land immediately as the US airspace had closed. They weren’t given any further information as to what was going on or where they were going, but Julian, a season flier, knew that this must be a major event, and was concerned that World War Three had started while they were in the air. None of the people on the 38 planes sent to Gander Airport had any immigration status in Canada, and were kept aboard the plane for up to 28 hours, with water and basic food rations passed up from the ground. Julian was the only passenger on his plane able to get through to a loved one via the plane telephone on 12 September. His call lasted fewer than
30 seconds before being cut off, and only had time to tell his wife that he was alive and in Canada, the first that his family had heard from him since leaving Heathrow the previous morning.

As depicted in the musical, the local bus drivers had been on strike, but paused their action to take the ‘plane people’ to shelters in towns. Here, Holly has found her dad’s stories of the experience particularly valuable, as he describes this part as “really frightening, driving through the woods for hours with no idea where we were going”. Julian and his plane-mates were taken to a Salvation Army church in Gambo. “The efficiency [of the locals] was extraordinary, there was this rallying round of people”, providing army cots and sleeping bags for the new arrivals to sleep. He thought that the return flight might be too heavy with the amount of food that the locals provided for the visitors, who were endlessly generous, offering their showers, washing machines, and spare rooms.

There was also a rallying of the plane people to help out. He recalled that within an hour of their arrival at their accommodation, some had stepped forwards to take on jobs so that the locals didn’t have to, such as pharmacists organising the distribution of medication, computer experts setting up communications channels, and cleaning teams so that the Newfoundlanders didn’t have to maintain the toilets with the 'Come From Aways' in residence. He was struck by how everyone, no matter who they were in their everyday lives, were all in the same boat and looked after each other.

“The whole thing was like a David Attenborough experiment. Humanity at its best and worst. There was that group of people that immediately found each other and wanted to help.” Julian, a successful singer-songwriter by trade, borrowed a guitar and took it upon himself to become the in-house entertainment. He has an encyclopedic brain for songs, and made a bet with another CFA that he wouldn’t repeat any songs throughout their time in Canada, and sang 285 songs throughout the week, no doubt providing great comfort to those who
needed respite. He even wrote a song about the experience, 'Waiting for a Plane', an ode to Jimmie Rogers’ 1927 'Waiting for a Train'.

Holly credits her dad with instilling in her a love of music. Some of her earliest memories with her dad are of them and her brother harmonising on long car journeys, or watching him perform for an audience. Julian often got his children up to perform with him: “he’s the source, for sure!”.

There are a few strange coincidences surrounding the Dawson family and Come From Away. David Hein, one of the show’s writers, was in a songwriting workshop of Julian’s years before going on to write the show with Irene Sankoff. Hein invited Julian to the opening night of the West End production in 2019 (Holly has still not forgiven him for taking her sister instead of her to the performance), where he saw Harry Morrison perform as Oz. When they were teens, Morrison had performed as Bugsy Malone to Holly’s Blousey Brown. Julian even kissed the cod during his time in Newfoundland (if you know, you know, and if you don’t, you’ll need to come see the show to find out). Holly felt it was “the neat closing of a circle” to audition for Festival Players’ production of the show, and Julian is excited to see it again, this time with his daughter on stage.

Come From Away
by David Hein and Irene Sankoff

Thurs 04 June to Sat 13 June, 7:45 PM

Sat 06 and Sat 13 June, 2.30PM

ADC Theatre

Click here to book your tickets!