IT’S a real pleasure to see award-winning writer Ron Hutchinson back on the London stage.
His Rat in the Skull has become a minor classic, which showcases Belfast-born Hutchinson at his best. When it was announced that Hutchinson’s latest play Ghosts of the Titanic was due a run at the Park Theatre (until 2nd April) a treat was definitely on the cards.
The play itself is a gift, giving the fact that the Titanic has gripped the public imagination since the day it sank on April 14, 1912.
Numerous dramatizations have been made about the sinking including James Cameron’s block-busting movie Titanic.
However, one truth has always been accepted – the ship hit an iceberg and sank.
In this modern world of fake news and conspiracy theories it is perhaps timely to explore some of the myths and legends concerning the Titanic.
Nobody could agree on the music the band played as people rushed to save their lives.
Indeed, there was some doubt there was a band playing at all.
There is even doubt as to whether there was an iceberg at fault.
Ghosts of the Titanic is at the Park Theatre until April 2Some claim the sinking was down to a fire in the hold which had been alight since leaving Belfast. Others say the sinking was an insurance scam orchestrated by a handful of millionaires who had an interest in seeing the ship hit the seabed.
And the list goes on, as Hutchinson so effectively tells us.
Clearly audiences can listen to the theories and make up their own minds, but this is theatre after all and as such requires strong casting, a gripping storyline and a plausible end.
A young widow travels to New York to discover the truth regarding her fiancé’s death only to get caught up in the whirlwind of theory and counter-theory.
All this is set up in act one with a strong cast who succeed in – what – discovering the truth of the matter?
It’s when the play hits act two that water begins to seep into the narrative.
It is difficult to conclude as to what is the right version and the play tends to remain on the fence – or rather deck.
With a simple set, the play successfully picks up the period which draws comparisons with the modern age.
Was JFK really shot, did man land on the moon, is Covid real, did Trump win the election?
All this makes the mind spin, which seems to be Hutchinson’s aim.
He has dedicated the play to his grandfather who worked on the Titanic and later died in the dockyard.
Maybe the dockworkers of the day knew the right answers.
What was it Paisley said, “the ship was fine when it left Harland and Wolff”.
Ghosts of the Titanic is on at the Park Theatre until April 2, for tickets click here.
