The Last Ship
Steel in the stockyard, Iron in the soul, we’ll conjure up a ship where there used to be a hole
Princess of Wales, Toronto
UK Tour
Northern Stage,
Newcastle
Sting’s musical, The Last Ship, returned to its home town of Newcastle for it’s opening in March 2018. Re-written and re-designed for its UK premier, the show was brought to life by the set and video designs of 59 Productions.
Set during the Thatcher years, this political and passionate musical tells the story of Giddeon, a sailor returning home to Wallsend after 17 years away. He soon discovers the ship-building life he left behind in chaos, the yard is closing and no one knows what will come next. With the engine fired and pistons in motion, picket lines are drawn as foreman Jackie White and his wife Peggy fight to hold their community together in the face of the gathering storm.
The Last Ship opened at Northern Stage on the 12th March 2018 and then went on tour throughout the UK. It is now open at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto with Sting playing the role of Jackie White.
SELECTED REVIEWS
“59 Productions’ design is stunning, rendering the shipyard in all its terrible beauty”
The Stage
“59 Productions’ designs are superlative, they intensify the drama and make us believe even when the action is less involving”
“The set and design by 59 Productions is magnificent. With the use of screens and projections, the world around us changes in a blink of an eye in the most beautiful and cinematic way”
“It also looks exceptionally handsome: the design, by 59 Productions, uses black and white projections to capture the gaunt grandeur of the shipyard girders against scudding clouds”
“Lorne Campbell, the artistic director of Northern Stage, has reworked the book for this new production, ditching some extraneous characters and subplots, and foregrounding only a couple of personal stories against the mighty backdrop of the shipyard, which is recreated in all its awesome height and depth by 59 Productions”
CREDITS
Music & Lyrics by
Sting
Writer & Director
Lorne Campbell
Producer
Karl Sydow
Northern Stage
Matt Runham
PW Productions
Iain Gillie
Movement Director
Lucy Hind
Musical Director
Richard John
Set & Video Design
59 Productions
Costume Designer
Molly Einchcomb
Lighting Designer
Matt Daw
Sound Designer
Seb Frost
59 TEAM
Producer
Rebecca Collis
Assistant Designer
Matthew Taylor
Animators
Jarek Radecki, David Curtis
Assistant Set Designer
Khushali Chawda
Video Programmer
Ben Pearcy
Video System Designer
Max Spielbichler