A new play about Arthur and Evgenia Ransome and George Orwell comes to the stage in Ipswich this April, and tickets are now on pre-sale.

Produced by Eastern Angles, Red Skies is based on the coincidence that Orwell and the Ransomes were both in Southwold at the same time in 1939. 

Written by Ivan Cutting, the play starts in Southwold Harbour just before the outbreak of war. where Orwell’s father was dying and Ransome, along with his wife Evgenia, were sailing out of Pin Mill. Orwell is about to write Animal Farm and intrigued that Ransome is married to the former secretary of Russia’s revolutionary leader, Trotsky. With Orwell’s suspicion of spies and the Ransomes’ inability to explain how they got out of Russia after the revolution, sparks could fly. The show follows their two stories over 20 years, when all three are in search of answers, political and personal.

Red Skies will be on tour around East Anglia during the spring, but tickets for April performances at the Sir John Mills Theatre in Ipswich are now available on pre-sale from the Eastern Angles box office. Full details are available here.