Boiler Room 6: A Titanic Story, produced by Tom Foreman Productions, is playing at the Pleasance Dome, Queen Dome. This is a solo performance by Charlie Sheepshanks, written and directed by Tom Foreman, with technical direction by Natalia Izquierdo and assistant production by Rachel Nicholson.
The first thing that strikes the audience is Sheepshanks’ versatility, a performer who, in concert with Foreman’s expert writing, draws you into the setting of the boiler rooms and the men who worked them. It is easy to forget at times that these personal stories are playing out on the RMS Titanic and that they are destined for disaster. Sheepshanks is a performer that gives everything he has to give in a dynamic performance, demonstrating an almost hypnotic physicality and captivating presence. It is clear the audience are in the hands of not just a masterful performer but also an exceptionally skilled writer and director.
The set for Boiler Room 6: A Titanic Story consists of two benches, and the rest is conjured through the seamless blend of performance and carefully, cleverly applied lighting and sound, creating a tense, at times claustrophobic, atmosphere touched with ever greater tragedy as Frederick Barrett works his way up through the ship. This account is expertly interwoven with what the audience would already know about the disaster, meaning that the focus remains on Barrett and his recollection from a perspective that can be so often overlooked. Foreman’s choices of material to include within the show demonstrate the high degree of research and the individual choices made to best highlight the human cost of the tragedy for those who could save themselves and chose not to, and those who could not understand enough to be saved.
Heartbreaking, distressing and utterly devastating to behold, the tragedy becomes all the more personal to the audience as Boiler Room 6: A Titanic Story invites us into a world of duty, obligations, choices, the ultimate frailty of man and the disaster born from our arrogance over what we create.
Listings and ticket information can be found hereÂ
