What I liked
I’ve had an obsession with the band on the titanic for a large part of my life, so I was delighted to see this show. You can tell a good amount of research has gone into the piece, with a lot of respect for the people who gave their lives to offer a moment of comfort to all those escaping the ship. The moment later into the show where the men share secrets that now nobody but themselves will know was lovely, and Colin Breslin in particular stood out as an actor, with apparently real tears glistening in his eyes at points.
What I didn't like
The show feels a little oddly paced- most of the show is people voting on if they leave or stay without ever changing their opinions, and there’s only so many times a character can say “we don’t have time” before it starts to feel like, well, actually it does seem like they have time. The reveals of children the others didn’t know about lacks a proper punch when we ourselves have not had time to feel we know these characters, and therefore can’t be shocked by a reveal. The titanic took over two hours to fully sink, so the show has time to explore it’s characters and their feelings. I’d love to see this expanded into a longer piece: maybe we see the moment they learn the ship is sinking, their reactions, the resulting convo, get a feeling of who these people are and their relationships with each other before lines begin to be drawn and secrets revealed.
And as many others said, it is disappointing that instruments weren’t played, but I got the impression this was a first run of a new work, so I’m sure that can be implemented in later productions.
Overall, the idea is here: it just needs a little more time.
My overall impression
An excellent start to what I hope will be developed into a longer piece- maybe a half hour show?
