Can a Play About Grief Still Make You Laugh? It Comes In Waves Says Yes

By Grace Hatchell, cycling into East Anglia.

It Comes In Waves UK Tour 2026: Cast announced for new coastal comedy drama by James McDermott exploring grief, community and change across East Anglia

Now this one… this one feels like it’s travelled a long way to reach me, tucked right at the bottom of the satchel, smelling faintly of sea air and somewhere a bit quieter than I’m used to.

I don’t often make my rounds out East Anglia way — bit of a trek from my usual routes, and the bike tyres start giving me funny looks — but every now and then something comes along that makes me think… alright, Grace, time to plot a new path.

And this is one of those.

Eastern Angles, in association with The Seagull Theatre, have announced the cast for It Comes In Waves, a new comedy drama by James McDermott, and it’s got that gentle, thoughtful feel about it — the kind of piece that doesn’t shout, but sits with you.

Set in a fictional grief café in Lowestoft (and I quite like the idea of that — a place where people just come as they are), the story brings together three people, all at very different stages of grief, all trying to figure out how to carry on.

We’ve got Erin Geraghty as Crystal, a recent widow trying to rebuild some kind of routine. Meg Artherton plays Jordan, younger, a bit more impatient with the whole idea that grief takes time. And then there’s Ben Nealon as Howard, the group leader — the one holding space for everyone else while quietly avoiding his own feelings.

And that’s where it gets interesting.

Because this isn’t just about loss — it’s about how differently people sit with it. How some talk, some avoid, some push through, some get stuck. It’s those small, everyday conversations mixed with the heavier moments that seem to shape the piece.

Writer James McDermott has drawn from his own experiences after losing his father during the pandemic, which you can feel in the honesty of it. It’s personal, but not closed off — more like an open door, inviting people in to recognise something of their own.

Direction comes from Eastern Angles’ Artistic Director Jake Smith, with sound and video design by Jack Baxter and lighting by Jason Addison, and it sounds like the tone walks that careful line — where humour sits alongside discomfort, not replacing it, just… easing it enough to breathe.

What I also love (and this feels very much like something I’d pin up on the village board) is that some venues will host grief writing workshops alongside the performances. Not just watch and go, but stay a little longer, sit with it, maybe even put pen to paper yourself.

The tour runs from 19 June through to 11 July 2026, taking in Lowestoft, Southwold, Peterborough, Woodbridge, Norwich, Colchester, Bury St Edmunds, Great Yarmouth and beyond — a proper sweep of the East, the kind of route where you can imagine the sea never being too far away.

It’s a part of the country I don’t visit often… but something tells me this might be worth the extra miles on the bike.

I’ll tuck this one into the satchel under “handle gently”… and maybe start looking at the map.

19 June – The Seagull, Lowestoft
https://theseagull.co.uk/seagull_shows/it-comes-in-waves/

20 June – Southwold Arts Centre
https://www.ticketsource.com/southwold-arts-centre-tickets/t-lddnovd

23 June – Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=216835

24 June – Seckford Theatre, Woodbridge
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=217035

25 June – University of East Anglia, Norwich
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=217235

26 June – Great Waldingfield Village Hall, Sudbury
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=217435

27 June – Headgate Theatre, Colchester
https://www.ticketsource.com/headgatetheatre/t-njjelyk

30 June – Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
https://theatreroyal.org/events/it-comes-in-waves/

1 July – St George’s Theatre, Great Yarmouth
https://stgeorgestheatre.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873685407/events

2 July – Kirton Church Hall, Ipswich
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=217635

3 July – Sheringham Little Theatre
https://sheringhamlittletheatre.com/whats-on/

4 July – Orford Town Hall, Woodbridge
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=220635

7 July – Maldon Town Hall
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=217835

8 July – Syleham & Wingfield Village Hall, Eye
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=218035

9–10 July – Eastern Angles Centre, Ipswich
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=217236

11 July – Castle Community Rooms, Framlingham
https://easternangles.co.uk/booking/?id=2208

About the Author

TheatreVillage

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Who Is Andrew “The Guvnor” of Theatre Village? (As delivered by Grace Hatchell, 2nd Act Couriers, First Class & Slightly Nosy Service) Now then… if you’ve spent any time wandering through Theatre Village, you’ll have felt it. That hum. That buzz. That sense that somewhere, behind the curtain, someone’s pulling the strings, brewing the tea, and making sure the spotlight actually turns on. That, my lovely lot, would be Andrew. Or as I’ve taken to calling him… The Guvnor. I

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