THE Liverpool Playhouse will become the first port of call for a musical written by Grammy award-winning Sting, as The Last Ship begins its first UK tour in Liverpool from 9-14 April.
Following a three week run at Northern Stage in Newcastle, the production begins a three month UK tour with eight performances at the Playhouse, featuring an original score with music and lyrics by Sting, as well as a few of his well-known songs; Island of Souls, All This Time and When We Dance.
The Last Ship is directed by Lorne Campbell, who previously directed Held at the Everyman in 2012 and stars Liverpool actor Joe McGann, who starred in Hope Place at the Everyman in 2014, in a story of a North East ship building town on the brink.
When a sailor named Gideon Fletcher, played by former Coronation Street actor Richard Fleeshman, returns home after seventeen years at sea, tensions between past and future flare in both his family and his town.
The local shipyard, around which the community has always revolved, is closing and no-one knows what will come next, only that a half-built ship towers over the terraces.
With the engine fired and pistons in motion, picket lines are drawn as foreman Jackie White (Joe McGann) and his wife Peggy (Charlie Hardwick) fight to hold their community together in the face of the gathering storm.
Completing the cast are Frances McNamee (Meg Dawson), Michael Blair (Yard Worker), Joe Caffrey (Billy Thompson), Matt Corner (Young Gideon & Yard Worker), Marvin Ford (Ferryman & Yard Worker), Orla Gormley (Cathleen & Yard Worker), Annie Grace (Mrs Dees), Sean Kearns (Freddy Newland & Old Joe), Katie Moore (Ellen Dawson), Charlie Richmond (Adrian Sanderson), Parisa Shahmir (Young Meg), Kevin Wathen (Davey Harrison) and Penelope Woodman (Baroness Tynedale).
Director Lorne Campbell said: “We have brought together a remarkable cast and team of creatives from across the UK with a core of incredible performers from the North East, many of whom are only a generation away from the shipyard workers of the Tyne and the Wear. This personal connection to the project brings an enormous passion and resonance to the company.”
The production visits the Playhouse from 9-14 April and tickets are available by calling 0151 709 4776 or at: www.everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on.
