🎭 The Last Shout
📍 The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Royal Parade, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2TR
🗓 Tuesday 3rd September 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
A STORY OF COURAGE AND SELFLESSNESS
On the evening of Saturday 19th December 1981, the crew of the Penlee Lifeboat Solomon Browne head out on a routine operation to rescue the stricken Union Star. Heavy seas and hurricane force winds did not deter the crew as they had set their sights firmly on their rescue mission.
Fighting against 90-knot winds and 18 meter waves, they tirelessly battled to save those aboard the Union Star. Radio contact was lost with the Solomon Browne and other local lifeboats were dispatched but their search and rescue attempts were unsuccessful.
The next morning, the Union Star was found capsized on the rocks by Tater Du Lighthouse, and debris from the wrecked lifeboat began to wash ashore. Shockwaves spread throughout the village of Mousehole, where the crew were from, in what has been described as their 'JFK moment'.
All eight members of the lifeboat crew were lost, as were the nine souls aboard the Union Star.
THE LAST SHOUT, playing all this week in The Drum at Theatre Royal Plymouth, celebrates 200 years of the RNLI and honours all those involved as it tells the story of that treacherous night through the eyes of Joe, a London based script writer who is searching for a hook upon which to base his new play.
After finding the story of the Penlee lifeboat, his exasperated partner Alice - an NHS nurse working in the ICU - convinces him to visit Mousehole and discover the true story for himself. She wants him to get the fire back which he used to have for script writing before the days of him churning out episodes of Hollyoaks and Casualty!
On the train journey Joe meets Craig, who has intimate knowledge of the incident, having worked as a barman in the local pub where the heroic lifeboat crew had frequented. The two strike up an unlikely kinship and Craig's wealth of knowledge really aids Joe in his endeavour.
SImon Parker's script is interesting and almost flips flops between present day action and conversations between the crew members in the time leading up to that fateful night. All of these interactions are done with sound only which is actually really effective. I have seen the use of voice recordings a lot lately but none have been as successful as this.
There was something blissfully familiar about the interactions of the crew and as we listened and laughed along, it was almost as if we were right there with them.
The entirety of the technical aspects of this production were in fact flawless and something as simple as the background noises of a coffee shop or train carriage were superb. Similarly the set design, although simple, was wonderfully versatile and had been used to its full potential with fantastioc staging and direction.
Also the cast here were exceptional. Darcy Vanhinsberg, Robyn Collins and Paul Morel really lived their roles and committed themselves fully. The utter believability in them individually and as a group was phenominal and everything about them was natural and warm, which made the audience really care about them.
Where this play fell down for me is that it was just too long. There were many scenes which just felt labored and somewhat monotonous. The script seemed to spend too much time on nonsensical things - such as whether olives existed in the 70s - which for me took away from the central story and made the play drag a bit.
As an audience member there were times when I became irritated with the writing and internally I was screaming "just tell the story" as I felt it was losing its way slightly and my mind was begining to wander.
With a story as strong and emotive as this one I believe the play would benefit immensly from being cut down and really focusing itself. Maybe a run time of 90 minutes straight through would keep the storytelling succinct and would remove the unnecessary distractions from the script because this is almost a very special piece of theatre.
There is a lot to love about THE LAST SHOUT and I found it difficult to land on a star rating for this one. Unfortunately because I felt the script let it down I couldn't award it 4 stars, but the technical aspects and acting capabilities meant that it was too good a production to recieve 3 stars! Ultimately, and even though I'm not a fan of half stars, I felt 3.5 was a fair rating.
This play definitely wasn't what I was expecting but had wonderful production values and I'm glad I have seen it. I would be interested to see a revised version of the show as it does have a lot of heart and I believe it could really shine in the future.
The show continues performances in The Drum until Saturday and the entire run is almost sold out so if you're interested in seeing the piece then click here to secure your tickets before it's too late.
Neill Kovacic-Clarke
All views are my own and I pride myself on being honest, fair and free from influence. Theatre is subjective and it is important to remember that all views expressed are just those of one reviewer.
My ticket for this performance of The Last Shout was gifted by the Theatre Royal Plymouth who invited me to watch the show in exchange for my honest review. The fact that my ticket was gifted played no part in the content of my review or the star rating given.
CAST LIST:
Darcy Vanhinsbergh as Joe; Robyn Collins as Alice; Paul Morel as Craig
Voice Artists: Charlie Barnecut as Trevelyan; Steve Jacobs as Barrie; Colin Humphries as Nigel; Christopher Hill as Kevin; Dan Tothill as Gary; Tim Cartwright as Charles; Andy Rowe as Stephen; Simon Parker as John; Amelie Vaccari as Deanne; Thomas Barriball as Young Craig; Jemima Cummings as Station Announcer
RUNNING TIME (approx):
2 hours 20 minutes, including interval
CONTENT WARNINGS:
Themes of loss; Mild swearing
THE LAST SHOUT IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF LIFEBOAT MEN
JOHN BLEWETT - NIGEL BROCKMAN - CHARLES GREENAUGH - STEPHEN MADRON - TREVELYAN RICHARDS - KEVIN SMITH - BARRIE TORRIE - GARY WALLIS
AND IN MEMORY OF THOSE ABOARD THE UNION STAR
HENRY MORETON - JAMES WHITTAKER - GEORGE SEDGWICK - ANGHOSTINO VERRESSIMO - MANUEL LOPEZ - DAWN MORETON - SHARON BROWN - DEANNE BROWN - BABY MORETON
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