Review: Third Class: A Titanic Story at the Mercury Theatre

Storytelling at its finest provokes strong mental imagery, and here we have a very good example, and a story that has gripped imaginations for decades. But this is no ordinary Titanic story.  Because Edward Dorking was put on the doomed ship to be sent to America by his family to an uncle, who they hoped would sort out his wild ways. Indeed, Edward was a friend of Mr. Wilde, Oscar, and openly gay, a brave act in such times. He survived the disaster by swimming for thirty minutes towards an overturned lifeboat and made a living in vaudeville recounting to American audiences the events of that night. He developed a growing fury at the way First Class passengers were prioritised over Third Class, where he was, and died in prison in 1954, three days before the forty-second anniversary of the disaster.

Performer Russell Lucas brings the story to vivid life, breaking the fourth wall to introduce himself, Edward and other characters. The strength of the piece is in its simplicity, as rope is moved into shapes to indicate a stage, the ship, bunk beds, and, in a powerful conclusion, the wreck of the ship, expertly brought to life with just rope, a deck of cards, hats and torches. Projections reflect the shape of the ship, accounts from the investigations after the sinking, and pictures of the dead, although the pixilation is really poor in some of the images.

Lucas also makes references to us in the Colchester audience and makes a joke about Ipswich. This felt to me like an unnecessary layer of meta theatre, pushing me out of the story a little, having heard so much like this in pantomime.

These are minor quibbles, though, as the piece is beautifully structured, the disaster itself being held back till we need to hear it, aided by the most superb soundscape that deepens the atmosphere and the tragedy.

We can clearly see, in Lucas’s skilful storytelling, the devastating results of survival, Dorking suffering from what we know now as PTSD.  And the cover-up by the White Star Line and treatment of survivors reflects the situation all the way through to the Grenfell disaster. A totally involving piece of theatre.