River's Up

1m, 1f

• Sally Millington - late 40s/early 50s
• Tom Millington - late 40s/early 50s, Sally’s husband.

Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, 2002
“Few productions could be timelier and more topical than this. Is art imitating nature or nature art? There was actual flooding not far from the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, while in the lunchtime show, ‘River's Up’, two actors play characters who abandon their flooded home and set sail on a dinghy. But surely, however bad the situation, in reality, the whole world couldn't disappear under water? That's the concept floated here by playwright Alex Jones. And you have to stop and think, following so many recent disasters that sometimes the unthinkable does happen. Could this? It will have many resonances for Yorkshire homeowners as Jones gives his global warning in a small-scale personalised way. He amusingly injects the commonplace into the extreme situation. The end of the world being nigh is compared to there being no sugar for the tea. Lynda Murdin. Yorkshire Post

Swan Theatre, Worcester, October 2002
“’River's Up’ is a powerful play with a strong idea at its core which is set firmly in present-day. It captures the panic, and despair whilst not losing sight of the play's loves story. River's Up is not a gritty realism play where a couple bemoan their soggy carpet - the humour does go some way to divert the audience from the insurmountable despair in the play's heart. Writer, Alex Jones stands back from ramming the eco-warrior themes down the audience's throat…and it is well worth seeing”. David Lewins, Worcester Evening News

“Alex Jones' highly watchable two-hander takes a topical theme - that of an engorged river and its consequences. The Severn is in high flood…and we are constantly engaged with the action of this ultimately tragic play. The horrors of thirst and starvation begin and a catastrophe of epic proportions is revealed…the play has a wonderful sense of pathos, none of which is overstated”.  Richard Edmonds, The Birmingham Post

Oxfordshire Touring Theatre Company Tour 2009
“With eerie prescience, Alex Jones wrote this play about the meteorological consequences of climate change in 2000. In just under two hours, he works up to a worst-case scenario while resisting the temptation to preach. The result is a finely wrought tragicomedy that provides laughs, tears and food for thought in equal measure. This is a highly recommendable production”.  Andrew Blades, The Stage

“The serious message of the piece is both counterbalanced and made more poignant by the humour and sparkiness of their relationship. It’s a powerful evening of theatre keeping the audience on the edge of their seats throughout. A must see show”. Angie Johnson, The Oxford Times

“Domestic tragicomedy of epic proportions - Alex Jones’ play ‘River’s Up’ is funny, poignant and heart wrenching. It pulls the audience in with its familiar characters and setting, with plenty of laughs about the bickering of the two lead characters and puts them in an unfamiliar context of crisis.”. Kate Bottriell, Daily Info, Oxford

Radio 4 Play 18 August 2008
Radio Choice: “In this melodramatic-sounding but superbly realised play by Alex Jones, a middle-aged couple come to realise the true consequences of global warming after a massive flood leaves them floating around in a dinghy.
This sparring pair are excellent in what is also a memorable love story”. Stephanie Billen, The Observer

Critic's Choice, Radio: “Alex Jones' script starts pleasantly ordinary and imperceptibly turns to nightmare as the waters never stop rising…A gently riveting story, its ecology worn lightly, beautifully acted”. Martin Hoyle, Financial Times

Radio Choice: “Modern diluvian fable about a squabbling midlife couple trapped in their riverside cottage by the rising Severn and then adrift on the ensuing flood in a dinghy.
What starts as comedy promises an Old Testament denouement,”.   JH, Sunday Telegraph

Radio Times “’River's Up’ was a small master-piece. Though imagining a world ending by flood, the storyline was grippingly realistic, movingly credible from what initially seemed no more than local flooding to the final catastrophe. Portrayed through the dramatic experiences of an ordinary couple, it could justifiably be described as a working man's ‘Titanic’”.