The Boy in the Ocean: Somewhere Between Sinking and Swimming

There are some experiences that resist language. They don’t arrive as neat narratives with a beginning, middle and end. Memories can be incomplete, contradictory or buried beneath years of ordinary life. Sometimes what remains isn’t a story at all, but a feeling. A body that reacts before the mind has caught up. An unexplained sense of shame. The conviction that perhaps nothing happened at all.

I wanted to write about that uncertainty.

The Boy in the Ocean follows a young man on his journey of processing a sexual assault in this youth. The play is told through not only text, but physical movement and recurring imagery of the sea. As pieces slowly surface, he begins questioning not only what happened to him, but how trauma has shaped the way he experiences intimacy.

Although the play centres on sexual abuse, it isn’t about violence itself. It’s about what happens afterwards. It’s about the years that follow, when life appears to continue normally while something underneath remains unresolved. It explores dissociation, memory and recovery, but it also explores love and connection.

As a queer writer, it also felt important to write a story that acknowledges experiences we don’t often see represented on stage. Conversations around sexual violence have become more visible in recent years, but male survivors are still underrepresented in theatre and in public conversation.

Movement has become a vital part of the piece. Throughout the production, an ensemble physically embodies memories, emotions and sensations that can’t be spoken aloud. The sea, too, became more than a setting. It became a metaphor for memory itself: beautiful, unpredictable, overwhelming and impossible to control.

Bringing The Boy in the Ocean to Camden Fringe has been an incredibly collaborative process. What began as a solo performance has grown into an ensemble production thanks to a team of actors, creatives and friends who have poured extraordinary care into telling this story.

17th of August, 9pm, The Cockpit Theatre, Gateforth Street, Marylebone, London NW8 8EH, United Kingdom.

https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/the_boy_in_the_ocean

22nd of August, 18:00, The Courtyard Theatre, Bowling Green Walk, 40 Pitfield Street, London N1 6EU, United Kingdom.

https://thecourtyardtheatre.seetickets.com/event/the-boy-in-the-ocean/the-courtyard-theatre/3662103

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this feature support is available:

Galop’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Helpline is available Monday – Thursday 10am – 8:30pm, and Friday 10am – 4:30pm. Contact the Helpline by phone (0800 999 5428) or via email[email protected].

If you need to talk to someone now the Samaritans are available 24/7: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

In an emergency always dial 999.