Local community called upon to help tell the Fawley Power Station story for a new play.

A participatory research and development process has begun to help inform the writing of a new play by playwright David Lane, commissioned and produced by our client Forest Forge Theatre Company. The process and the script aim to link heritage, local history and untold community stories connected to the decommissioned Fawley Power Station, on the overlooked 22-mile Waterside stretch of the New Forest.

This process follows on from a first-phase pilot project spearheaded between Forest Forge Theatre Company, New Forest Heritage Centre, Waterside Heritage Centre and other community partners in 2019 resulted in the unearthing of photographs and stories about the Waterside area.

Images and texts were collated into a pop-up gallery exhibition and short verbatim performance at the New Forest Heritage Centre in February 2020, with gallery texts and script edited by David using only the words of those they had interviewed.

A particular thread of interest throughout this story-gathering involved discussion around the historical impact of Fawley Power Station (and to a similar extent the AGWE/Esso Refinery) on the Waterside area of the New Forest, especially in light of a huge housing development project proposed (and since confirmed) on land nearby. 

It was decided the specific impact of the iconic Fawley Power Station merited a bigger and more focused project, developed through further story-gathering and historical research, and this second phase of 22 Miles of Sea was born.

Thanks to funding from Arts Council England, David Lane and Forest Forge Theatre Company will be working on this project with partners New Forest Heritage Centre, Waterside Heritage Centre, Bristol University, Bifed, with the aim to produce and tour the play back to the local community. 

To help with the project, Forest Forge Theatre are calling out to anyone who may have worked at Fawley Power Station or been involved with building it or any aspect of it to contact them and tell their stories, share their photographs, memories and experiences about Fawley power Station throughout its history. No story is too small! Please email sharon@forestforgetheatre.co.uk.