Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Ivan Barnev, Stuart Crowther, John Hannah, Heidi Niemi, Jonathan Rhodes.

The strains of The Last Waltz, perhaps the loneliness of Nearer To My God Than Thee or the finality of Autumn should with illusion be observed and be heard as the lives of four alcoholic tramps living the same existence day in, day out on the railways is suddenly interrupted by the appearance of another, a man who can see their lives and the fantasy of humanity’s deception that lives in them all

Hristo Boychev’s The Titanic Orchestra, on at the Pleasance Courtyard during the Edinburgh Festival, is the full plunge into the realms of darkness that is elevated, poetry written and lauded by some but with the huge fall into slow madness and dependence that drinking can bring. The wide range of emotions, from murderous rage, melancholic disrepair, wistful rememberance, former glory and the air of true invincibility are captured in full as the tramps and their new companion seek salvation from their place of damned seclusion.

For L.I.P.A.’s Stuart Crowther, already an actor garnering a big future out for himself and with a talent that shines through the rainiest of days that an Edinburgh August can throw upon the city, The Titanic Orchestra is play in which affirms his natural stage presence and the measure of his ability is growing hugely with each different production he finds himself in.

Alongside Ivan Barney as Doko, the last member of the four tramps to seek salvation in the mysterious train’s cabinet, and who excels as the lead drunk and Mr. John Hannah who projects such an air of anonymous inscrutability in his performance, the secret of the illusion is in very good hands. It reaches out to the audience who perhaps may find themselves in the pickle of having the mirror reflect humanity’s urge to find solace at times in the clear full glass offered by empty bottle and gives them a glimpse of where lives may end up, thankfully sometimes in the same realm offered to the master of illusion as dignity is the first step in realisation.

A prophetic production, tantalising, glorious in its translation and a real unmitigated vision of great theatre, The Titanic Orchestra plays on for us all.

Ian D. Hall