Treasured

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
Presented by Aspire Trust & Cut to the Chase Productions
1st October - 6th October 2012

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

Despite the grandeur of the setting this multimedia event about the sinking of the Titanic was at times a disappointing spectacle.

The good points were the eye-catching visuals, executed by Illuminos, notably the giant image of a seagull and, very impressively, the Titanic's brow steering menacingly towards the audience, with the hull of the ship passing across the ceiling of the Cathedral.

The music added a strong atmospheric touch to the production, albeit with only one live performer, trumpeter Brendan Ball. The other music was served up pre-recorded, created by a quintet of RLPO brass players.

Anecdotes were plentiful. The most fascinating was the tale of the ship's cat! After leaving Southampton, it docked in France to pick up further passengers. One of the ship's crew saw the cat, which had recently given birth to five kittens, take each of them in her mouth and take them down the gangplank onto French soil and then left the ship herself. On seeing this eerie event,, he promptly did likewise and saved his life.

The hardship endured by the many hundreds of people who worked on constructing the Titanic at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast was almost beyond belief. A large percentage of the builders - who were paid an average of a £1 a week - suffered life- threatening injuries, with no compensation for their misfortune.

Less impressive was the litany of facts, spouted throughout by members of the cast, about the Titanic, which became tedious to listen to at times.

An odd aspect of Treasured occured towards the end. After the ship had been sunk and inquests held as to the reasons why, it jumped back to the time the tragedy took place, detailing various tales of people's bravery or cowardice.

But despite holding reservations about the overall production, creator and director of Treasured, Jen Heyes, deserves praise for attempting to present a new slant on the oft-told tale of the Titanic.

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