THE BOAT FACTORY to get London premiere after a run in New York

London premiere

THE BOAT FACTORY

“You would be made of stone if you did not respond to Dan Gordon’s love letter to the Harland and Wolff shipyard!” ★★★★ The Times

July 1947. The sun shines down on a post-war world. A 16-year-old boy walks for the first time through the gates of Belfast’s Harland & Wolff Titanic shipyard. More than 1700 ships built between here and the Clyde, 67 different trades, 300 acres of land and 35,000 men employed at its height. Regarded as the biggest and best there is, if you can dream it - they can build it. This is history - this is his story.

The Boat Factory, a poignant and uplifting two-man play, will get its London premiere at the King’s Head Theatre in a four-week season from Tuesday 23 July – Saturday 17 August, after winning acclaim at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival and transfering to New York.

Dan Gordon's play is an extraordinary evocation of a city in a century of great change. The many voices of the script carry echoes of other places, other worlds, other epics, but return eventually to the home place and the amazing eloquence of ordinary people. Actors Dan Gordon and Michael Condron conjure up a host of colourful characters from the glory days of Belfast's shipbuilding era to construct a poignant, funny, and moving picture of boat-building, male friendship, hardship, humour and heroism.

Gordon said: “I’ve lived in the shadow of those big yellow cranes all my life and I wanted to tell their story because they are so much a part of me and our collective heritage. Harland & Wolff built Titanic, the greatest ship in history, but there is a great deal more to the achievements of the thousands of yardmen. They built over 1700 ships with pride and skill unmatched anywhere else in the world, and we need to celebrate that. From East Belfast to Broadway and everywhere in between – The Boat Factory story sails on.”

Cast: Dan Gordon and Michael Condron

Directed by Philip Crawford

Produced by Happenstance Theatre Company

“Dan Gordon’s brilliant two-man play constructs a picture of boat-building, male friendship, hardship, humour and heroism as carefully as the men they portray built the Titanic”

Belfast Telegraph

Age guidance 12+ (contains some mild swearing)

Listings information

The Boat Factory

by Dan Gordon

Directed by Philip Crawford

Performed by Dan Gordon and Michael Condron

King’s Head Theatre

115 Upper Street

London

N1 1QN

Tuesday 23 July - Saturday 17 August