The Harland and Wolff shipyard, set up in 1861, has long been a dominant feature of the Belfast skyline. It’s not just the place where the Titanic was built; 1,700 ships were made there by a workforce that once numbered 35,000, and despite the yard’s modern decline it remains a mighty symbol of human endeavour.
Much of Dan Gordon’s family worked at Harland and Wolff, and his play is a kind of love letter to the shipyard. Touchingly performed by Gordon himself alongside Michael Condron, it is a bittersweet picture of friendship and at the same time a vision of industrial decay. There’s not a lot here about Belfast’s sectarian tensions; instead this is a tribute to collaboration and endurance.
Condron is the more versatile actor of the two, playing disabled Moby-Dick obsessive Geordie Kilpatrick as well as a host of other characters. Meanwhile the genial, solid Gordon mostly plays Davy, who starts at the yard as a teenage apprentice and becomes a reflective, soulful Everyman.
Philip Crawford’s production, with music by Chris Warner, is nimble without being tricksy. The performers switch neatly between roles and make even the more technical parts of shipbuilding seem poetic. The result is a warmly affectionate 80-minute show that’s amusing but also instructive — and tragic.
Until August 17 (020 7478 0160, kingsheadtheatre.com)
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