KEY POINTS:
High seas adventures, epic and small, are lovingly retold in Ian Hughes' new one-man-playShip Songs, which had its world premiere at the Pumphouse Theatre on Friday night.
Hughes' slice of nautical nostalgia ties together three tales of people leaving their comfortable home shores for an ocean of adventure. The action shifts from the epic story of 15th-century Chinese explorer Zheng He to an Irish convict who jumps ship and falls in love with a Maori maiden, to the true tale of how Hughes' parents met and fell in love en route to Alaska. Interspersed with the narrative are traditional sea shanties and new songs and evocative incidental music from Don McGlashan.
Ship Songs has plenty of pitfalls for an inexperienced performer, with a host of characters from China, Ireland, Britain and Canada colliding in the various strands of the story. But Hughes is a fantastic performer who effortlessly shifts from woman to man and through centuries of action. He doesn't put a foot or accent wrong as he deftly dances around the stage, handling both the humour and pathos of the play with equal aplomb. While all the stories have their own highs and lows it is the story of Hughes' mother's adventures that really shines, providing the true emotional heart to this feel-good show.
In addition to Hughes' charming onstage antics, music and moving images are also integral to the show.
Don McGlashan's original shanties are indistinguishable from the traditional shanties and his incidental music (played by band Seven Sisters) adds a further layer of emotion to the action. The opening line of the play serves to remind us why McGlashan is the perfect man for the job. In the first line of the play Hughes reminds us the best songs "are little stories too" and fans of McGlashan's song-writing prowess could only concur.
Michael Hodgson and Grant Bowyer's visuals work well, switching from a set-like backdrop to creating special effects or illuminating the thoughts and feelings of characters in the show.
The best bits saw Hughes interacting with the video thanks to John Verryt's ingenious sail/screen backdrop, which also transformed due to various zips and doors. While clever, there is a flat quality to video that no matter how dynamic will always appear passive next to a performer as vibrant as Hughes.
Ship Songs is a new initiative by the Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) to develop its festival brand. It is the first new NZ work specifically commissioned to tour and take ATC style professional theatre to the suburbs and beyond.
Such a charming show would warm the coldest of cockles and the added bonus of not having to trek into the city and fork out for a carpark means there's no excuse for suburban theatre fans to miss Ian Hughes' nautically nice nostalgia.
What: Ship Songs.
Where: Pumphouse Theatre.
Itinerary: The Pumphouse (Aug 8-10), The Herald Theatre (Aug 14 to Sept 7), Glen Eden Playhouse (Sept 12-14) and Howick Little Theatre (Sept 17-21).
