BEEREY
Cavern Club, 22 Allen St, Te Aro, Wellington
02/03/2018 - 05/03/2018
NZ Fringe Festival 2018 [reviewing supported by WCC]
Production Details
Welcome to the Beerey household: Dad’s locked up, Daughter’s knocked up, Mum’s fed up… What’s this all about? What’s going on?
Beerey is the true story of one family’s fight for justice, and to stand strong together against all the odds. Honest, raw, funny and heartbreaking. It makes you wonder, how far would you go to prove your family aren’t international cocaine smugglers?
It’s all got to be a mistake, right?
Beerey is a duo of verbatim one act plays, alternately sharing the true experiences of Sue (A Wife’s Tale) and Elle (A Daughter’s Tale) during and since the arrest and wrongful conviction of Jon Beere, known as Beerey, Sue’s husband and Elle’s father. Beerey was arrested in 2011 part as part of Operation Disorient (one of the UK’s biggest international drugs smuggling busts) in 2011. Jon is serving 24 years in prison for a crime he maintains that he did not commit, and is fighting for his freedom alongside the rest of ‘The Freshwater Five’ (as they have become known).
Each play tells the usually hidden story of the impact of a wrongful conviction on the family members who get left behind. Britain sells itself internationally as having the best justice system in the world, but is that how it really feels for UK citizens caught up in that system?
Sue and Elle tell their story of exactly how it feels with total honesty and candor, with no holds barred and big dollop of feisty humor.
Their stories make you wonder, what would you do if your perfectly ordinary family was suddenly swept into the nightmare of a high profile international drugs prosecution? If a member of your family is accused of a crime will everyone believe not just that that person is guilty, but that you’re all guilty?
The plays are complimentary, but are written so that each one will stand alone.
At the time of writing Jon Beere and the Freshwater Five are still being held in prison, and their families are still fighting to get the fresh evidence of their innocence heard by the Court of Appeal.
www.5men104years.com is the website set up to tell the full story of all the men and families involved. Profits from the shows to criminalappeals.org.uk
Parental Guidance Advised: There is some distressing subject matter, and some swearing.
Reviews for Beerey:
“an excellent piece of performance” “acting with such authenticity that it really was hard to accept they were just playing a part” – BROADWAY BABY: *****
“Goosebumps… an extraordinary performance” “riveting and insightful” – FRINGE GURU: ****
“multiple and complex issues handled with thought and subtlety” – LONDONTHEATRE1: *****
“poignant and moving” – BUXTON FRINGE REVIEW: Shortlisted ‘Best Actress 2017’.
Cavern Club, 22 Allen Street, Te Aro, Wellington
Friday 2 – Monday 5 March 2018
7:00pm
Concession/Student $12 Fringe Addict $10 General Admission $15
Theatre , Solo ,
1 hr
A creative call for justice
Review by Margaret Austin 03rd Mar 2018
Beerey can’t really be described as a play, or a show; it’s perhaps not even a performance. That’s no criticism – it’s 45 minutes of disclosure of a most unusual and personal kind.
Taking the stage at the Cavern Club last night is Bristol-born Lois Temel. With a restrained yet convincing presence, and hesitantly spoken, her vulnerability is immediately evident. That’s partly due to the story she has to tell, partly due also to the emotions which have led her to create a piece of this kind.
Temel is relating incidents in the UK which led to the 2010 arrest and subsequent conviction of Jon Beere, the Beerey of the title. Beerey is the father of Elle, whom Temel is portraying.
Beerey, plus four of his boat mates, were sentenced to a total of 104 years in prison for a criminal act they couldn’t have committed – picking up 53 million pounds worth of cocaine off the back of a container ship in a pitch black English Channel in gale force winds.
“It’s life changing news when you’re involved in it,” observes Temel of the front page exposure which ensued in the Isle of Wight County Press.
Fifteen year old Elle watched her father handcuffed and taken away. Now a woman, she’s never seen him at home since.
Temel met Sue, Beerey’s wife, at a book club, heard her story, and took up her cause. At the time of writing, the promotional brochure says, the UK public body set up to review miscarriages of justice has had the case on its desks for over two years without sending it to the Court of Appeal to be heard.
Actual BBC footage of the case details and proceedings punctuate Temel’s monologue and help authenticate her story. And the story – a mixture of facts and the family’s reaction to such a situation – is compelling.
To make a stage piece out of this kind of material is challenging. So is being the only one on stage throughout. Temel is to be commended for her creative support for a cause of justice.
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