Sting’s Last Ship sails into Salford
FORMER POLICE FRONTMAN BRINGS HIS ACCLAIMED DEBUT STARRING AUF WIEDERSEHEN PET’S JIMMY NAIL TO LOWRY
STING is bringing his acclaimed debut musical The Last Ship to Salford on its first UK tour next year.
The show features a Tony-nominated score and lyrics composed by the former frontman of The Police, and is based on his own childhood in the north east.
The ‘personal, political and passionate’ musical tells the story of a community facing the demise of the shipbuilding industry in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, where he grew up.
When Gideon Fletcher - played in the show by Auf Wiedersehen, Pet star Jimmy Nail - returns home after 17 years at sea, tensions between past and future flare in both his family and his town.
The local Swan Hunter shipyard, around which the town has always revolved, is closing and no-one knows what will come next, only that a half-built ship towers over the terraces.
The musical will have its UK premiere at Newcastle’s Northern Stage on March 12, 2018, where it will stay for four weeks before setting sail on a UK tour that will dock at Salford Quays theatre The Lowry from July 2 to 7.
Sting said: “I’m so excited to be bringing the Last Ship to Salford because I feel that the underlying themes of the play, the importance of work and community, dignity and regional pride will resonate strongly with the people of Salford and Manchester.” The show, which premiered in Chicago in 2014, was initially inspired by Sting’s 1991 album The Soul Cages, in which he reflected on the death of his father. It is directed by Northern Stage artistic director Lorne Campbell. Billed as ‘an epic account of a family, a community and a great act of defiance,’ the musical features some of Sting’s bestloved songs including Island of Souls and All This Time. Tickets are on sale from thelowry.com. Sting