Titanic - Roleystone Theatre

Reviewed by Jordan D'Arcy

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Titanic, much like the movie of the same name, is based on the real-life events of the maiden, and final, voyage of the unsinkable ship. The producers of the original production ensured that the requisite research had been done to accurately do justice to the portrayals of the real-life people and their stories. Likewise, I believe the cast of this production has made a concerted effort to understand their characters' namesakes. 

This show is a mammoth task to put on as it is, let alone in a community theatre space, and this production made a valiant effort. 

The huge 16-piece orchestra was packed into the back of the stage, and in some scenes was made visible to double as the ship's band, with musical director Krispin Maesalu also playing the role of the ship's conductor. 

The set was cleverly designed (Peter "Pear" Carr, Ron Birch, and Mark Thompson). The floor was beautifully painted to look like the floorboards of the deck. The main set was made of two flats, joined with a hinge in the middle so that it could be used as the bow of the ship and as the walls of various other rooms, including the bridge and the deck, when repositioned by the stage crew (dressed as ship staff). Unfortunately, I felt that the flats were maybe too heavy or difficult to move, as transitions took a very long time in some cases. The other main concern I had regarding the set is that, because the massive flats needed the stage to be flat in order for it to be moved, there were no other levels for actors to stand on. Practically, this resulted in being unable to see the actors who were singing whilst there was choreography happening in front of them. This happened in several numbers, and unfortunately, this meant I missed significant exposition. 

Costumes by Merri Ford were excellent. As mentioned above, the thought to costume backstage crew as staff was distinctly noted, even by audience members I overheard in the foyer.

Particular standout cast members were Madeleine Shaw and Jordan Valentini as Alice and Edgar Beane. Madeleine, as Alice, was a clear audience favourite, particularly in scenes where she was trying desperately to speak to anybody in first class. It was genuinely heartbreaking watching Jordan as Edgar after the lifeboats took Alice away. 

Archer Larwood as Fred Barrett was excellent. The chemistry between Henry Hayes and Sarah Hunter was very believable as a courting couple. Ian Craig Lawrance was suitably frightening as Bruce Ismay. Mark Thompson was strong as Thomas Andrews. Peter "Pear" Carr was excellent as Captain Smith, and beautifully supported by his crew, Benjamin Small as First Officer Murdoch and Aaron O'Neill as Second Officer Charles Lightoller, both proving throughout the entire show that you don't need to have lines to be getting your part of the story across. 

There were some creative choices that drew me out of the story a little - namely in the dining scene where Captain Smith and Mr Ismay are having a conversation across the table that is clearly supposed to be in hushed tones to avoid others overhearing, but those characters were sat at opposite ends of the table, making it feel a tad forced when other characters reacted as if they couldn't hear. 

There were also occasions where the choreography felt a little unfit for purpose - whilst effective and eye catching, in particular, the boiler room choreography was distracting from the story being told in the song, which made parts of Act Two quite confusing. 

There were a few sound mixing issues - I couldn't tell if mics weren't working or on or if it was a lack of projection that meant the mics weren't picking up the sound, but hopefully this was just opening weekend jitters. 

This production was enjoyable to watch, and there was clearly significant effort put into creating it. The cast and crew should be proud of the mammoth production it is.

Reviewer Note: Jordan has previously worked with members of this cast and crew. Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.