The Last Ship - Review

Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool


****


Music and lyrics by Sting
Original book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey
Direction and book by Lorne Campbell

Joe McGann and Charlie Hardwick

For the most part, Sting’s The Last Ship is a thing of beauty. The Geordie songwriter / pop megastar has penned a well-crafted salute to the shipbuilders of his native Newcastle Upon Tyne and their industry that has long vanished.

Sting’s roots shine proudly throughout the show. The language is frequently and gloriously in the north eastern vernacular while the melodies, be they balladry or the more rousing ensemble numbers,  are anchored firmly in English folk heritage. Think of The Hired Man, fused with Blood Brothers alongside a hint of Auf Weidersehn Pet and you start to get close to the show’s heartbeat. 

It’s hard (nigh, impossible) to write of the plot and remain spoiler-free. Suffice to say, not only is there a solid industrial foundation to the narrative, there is also a cleverly crafted human interest too. Themes of love, ambition along with both a respect for and a challenge to the importance of family and tradition, are well woven into the narrative.

Joe McGann and Charlie Hardwick lead the cast as Jackie and Peggy White, shipyard foreman and nurse respectively and both could not be more perfectly cast. Their singing voices may not be the finest, but McGann has a beautifully powerful presence that’s hewn from riveted granite. As he leads his workers in act one’s stirring Shipyard number, there is a believable wryness to his delivery that defines him, not only as a leader of men, but also as a shipbuilder with a deeply held a pride in his craft. Peggy is made of the same steel as her husband, but with the additional thread of a perceptively drawn woman’s compassion. We see her not only leading, but caring too. 

The story’s romantic theme derives from the school-love that blossomed between Gideon Fletcher and Med Dawson (Richard Fleeshman and Frances McNamee) and who we meet some 17 years later. Both actors are gifted with some of the show’s more heart-rending numbers, though McNamee leads the women in a gloriously tango-infused routine If You Ever See Me Talking To A Sailor.

The portrayal of the industry’s decline is as heartbreaking as it is recognisable. This review was written as the touring production played in Liverpool and there was a resonance to its message that was almost tangible sitting amongst the packed matinee audience in the Playhouse Theatre. Merseyside too has seen its docks and shipyards decimated.

But Sting and Lorne Campbell have pulled their punches with the villain of this piece. Mr Newlands (played by Sean Kearns) is the shipyard owner who, as his business crumbles, resorts to having to call in the police to clear the picketing workers, defiantly attempting to hold on to their livelihoods. He’s clearly the bad guy here, but the real "bad guy" was a far more complex machine of global and local politics and policies that crushed the shipyards along with many other of Britain’s heavy industries. Similarly, in a litany of current “issues” recited before the final bow, its hard to reconcile a reference to gun control in the USA, however fashionable that debate may currently be, with Newcastle shipbuilders stripped of their industrial pride and dignity. 

Creatively, the show is cutting-edge in its conception. 59 Productions’ set design makes for an ingenious use of simple girders and clever projections to create illusions that switch seamlessly from present day to backdrop to spiritualised suggestiveness. Lucy Hind has crafted clever and authentic dance work, while in the pit Richard John’s six-piece band makes Sting’s songs soar.

Whether the show will carry its charm into the metropolitan bubble of the M25 is hard to discern, with today's bloated Londoners being a world away from the harsh industrial axe that fell upon the North. Until then, the tour plays until July and it is well worth catching. 

The show tours until 7th July. Venues and dates can be found here.

Fool For Love - Review

Found 111, London


****


Written by Sam Shepard
Directed by Simon Evans

Adam Rothenberg and Lydia Wilson

“They fuck you up, your mum and dad” wrote Philip Larkin and it is precisely that sentiment that sits squarely at the heart of Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love currently playing at Found 111. The derelict former college, perched aloft the building site that currently masquerades as the Charing Cross Road, is an appropriately stark setting for this bleak piece of modern Americana. 

Shepard's 1980's work stunned audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and it makes a well timed return, his two young adults struggling with the unspeakable complexities of their desire.

Adam Rothenberg and Lydia Wilson are Eddie and May, the one-time lovers who can’t seem to tear themselves apart. As Eddie speaks of his dreams of a ranch in Wyoming, it becomes increasingly, devastatingly, clear that the couple's emotional landscape is likely to prove as barren and unforgiving as the Mojave Desert surrounding the shabby motel in which the entire 75 minutes action plays out.

Rothenberg and Wilson are commanding in their portrayal of passion and pain. They are well served by Joe McGann's Old Man, a leathery, gnarled cowboy with a secret, whose spirit hovers over the entire work. It is down to Luke Neal's Martin, a bumbling, regular kinda guy in innocent pursuit of May, to open a yawning chasm of horrors. 

Simon Evans directs thoughtfully (even if his doors slam too loud, too often) in this classy conclusion to the Found 111 season.

Runs until 17th December
Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Elf - Review

Dominion Theatre, London

***

Book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin

Music by Matthew Sklar

Lyrics by Chad Beguelin

Directed and choreographed by Morgan Young

Ben Forster and Kimberley Walsh

Twelve years after the movie scored itself into the global psyche as a modern day Christmas classic, the musical version of Elf makes its London premiere at the Dominion Theatre.

Elf's cute story would melt even the most glacial of hearts as it tells of apparently orphaned Buddy, who is inadvertently swept into Santa's sack and flown back to the North Pole. The movie's success proved the tale's potential for comedy along with much seasonal schmaltz as it follows Buddy's growing up with Santa and his quest to return to New York City to discover his true family.

Ben Forster as Buddy steals the show with an un-relenting charm and wide eyed enthusiasm. Forster's performance may well be inspired by the movie's Will Ferrell, a tough act to follow for sure, but the young Brit brings something new to the character and does a smashing job of maintaining an upbeat energy throughout the show.

TV and popstar Kimberly Walsh looks and sounds fabulous as Buddy's love interest Jovie, interjecting a perfectly measured counter-balance of humour to Buddy's Christmas enthusiasm.

Amongst the cast Joe McGann as Buddy's natural father Walter, who has to learn to love his newly-discovered son, offers up an ultimately touching turn. The elfin Jessica Martin as his wife Emily similarly convinces and there is a standout performance from Jennie Dale as Walter’s secretary Deb. Delivering one of the show's funniest performances, Dale earns rapturous applause from the crowd.

The producers have adopted a pricey ticketing approach to this show, with top premium tickets going for an eye watering £250+! Not unreasonably, expectations are stratospheric and they are not met. For that price one might well have expected the movie's famously hilarious shower scene to have been played out on stage in a fully plumbed in set (it isn't). And where Hollywood sprinkled the film with a generous helping of classic Christmas songs, Sklar and Beguelin's numbers (which to be fair are imaginatively staged by Morgan Young, including some lovely tap routines) written for the show are, for the most part, quickly forgotten. And, thinking of the little ones, bear in mind that even for £250, the show is at least 30 minutes too long. 

But hey, it’s Christmas - and whilst Elf may be little more than typically festive theatre fayre, it makes for a fun night out in the West End. The scenery and projections are smart and they even make it snow inside the Dominion!

Runs until 2nd January 2016

Guest reviewer: Josh Kemp