EDINBURGH'S Festival Theatre played host to Sting’s amazing musical, “The Last Ship”. It is so appropriate that a musical about shipbuilding should be in this theatre just up the road from Leith Docks, in fact Sting came up to Leith recently and performed songs from the show to promote it, writes our theatre critic Kerry Black.

Sting himself was brought up in an English shipbuilding town and the musical concerns itself with the hatchet years of the late 1970s and early 1980s when British industry was torn apart as the Tory Government decided to end the power of the unions, destroying entire communities.

Fife was devastated by the demise of mining and “The Last Ship” portrays the fight of not only the men who worked in the yards but also the strong women who stood by them and supported them through their strikes and battles.

The stellar cast is headed up by Richard Fleeshman, who many will know from Coronation Street. Fleeshman plays Gideon, a young man who escaped to the Royal Navy rather then ending up in the shipyards like his contemporaries, yet ultimately comes back to help save his heritage and home town. There are obvious parallels in his story and the tale of Sting himself.

I have previously seen Fleeshman in Guys and Dolls, so know what an outstanding performer he is. He was beautifully paired with the brilliant Frances McNamee as Meg, the feisty girl he left behind, who has grown into a strong independent woman.

Joe McGann gives a stirring performance as Jackie White, a man who has spent all his days in the yards and urges his workers to fight to the end. Penelope Woodman played Peggy his wife, on opening night, in one of the strongest roles I have seen in years for an older woman. Peggy is the ultimate matriarch, willing to defend her family and culture to the bitter end.

There is an excellent supporting cast, ranging from the working class dock workers to the yard manager and Thatcher clone, Baroness Tynedale, many of whom played dual roles as the story wove us from the romance of Young Meg and Young Gideon, to their meeting seventeen years later, when Gideon realises he has left behind far more than just memories, as he meets Ellen the daughter he never knew.

With incredible set design by 59 Productions, utilising projection to transform the static set from the ship yards to the back streets to a cathedral, “The Last Ship” shows the politics and passion of the times, as the empty carcass of the ship swallows the hopes and dreams of a community who are determined to fight to the end. Faith and religion feature strongly in this show as angels, Sunday School and even Noah himself are mentioned.

The music ranges from folk inspired songs, to romantic ballads to a stomping tango number. Although there was only a small five piece band, they were supplemented by the onstage performers who even broke the fourth wall to encourage the audience to join in. Top marks to Annie Grace, the sequinned, penny whistling, barmaid!

The Last Ship is the latest musicals to highlight the struggles of ordinary workers eg Brassed Off and Made In Dagenham, just like them it has great heart, great humour and is the ultimate hymn to Sting’s working class heritage. Interestingly while the artwork of the show is based on a stained glass tribute to the shipworkers, here in Benarty Church we have a stained glass window dedicated to the miners.