Every Time it Rains @ Hull Truck

There can only be so many water puns a writer (like Rupert Creed, say) can slip into a script without them being noticed. Surely. But in his new play – Every Time it Rains (having its World Premier at Hull Truck right now) – Creed keeps a gentle trickle of them bubbling up from characters' mouths.

The fact that this is a World Premier at Hull Truck shouldn't come as a surprise; it's got so painfully local a feel, I doubt the Truck staff are exactly swimming in offers to tour it elsewhere. It's not just a story about floods – it's a story about Hull's flood in 2007. The one that the media submerged under stories of other floods around the country, a move followed by government recovery efforts which also focussed elsewhere. It forms part (along with the Truck's recent Confessions of a City Supporter) of a wave of victimisation felt by Hull's locals – they almost seem to be celebrating it, as they sink into self-jubilant victimhood.

But the Truck is very good at this sort of thing. Their shows consistently tap into the currents of feeling in this community and distil that community onto the stage. Every Time it Rains has five actors playing a stream of characters, all in some way affected by The Flood. So it feels like there's a lot of them onstage, and the almost constant flowing and shifting of characters creates a real feel of community and of change. There's the bulky copper who tried to rescue Michael Barnett, failed, and now suffers a life awash with guilt and flashbacks. Then Norman, and his wet drip of a wife, Maureen, whose bungalow doesn't stand a chance against the floodwaters – despite his careful preparations. Their neighbours are Gary and Claire, who have a much more proactive, materialistic attitude (once the enormity of the situation has sunk in for Gary) – they also have better rows. What Creed uses these characters – and other minor ones – for, is telling us all that The Flood was traumatic, people suffered, the systems in place couldn't cope, and no one cared about the poor little Hull folk. Essentially, The Flood results in Creed's characters pouring out an unremitting torrent of misery, each struggling to keep their head above the hassle surrounding them.

So, another Truck play to conform to the two unwritten Truck Rules: 1) All plays must play up to their own nature as theatrical performance, usually by having characters addressing the audience. 2) There must be audience manipulation in the last few minutes. 3) If a play has a distinct appeal to Hull folk, it gets the main stage – ideally, plays should also encourage the idea of Hull folk as put-upon and victimised.

The copper claims to be trying to tell a straightforward story, without saturating it with emotion. It seems to be Creed's intention too. Well, all those speeches dripping in sentimental piano music really put a damper on that!