INTERVIEW: ‘Jimmy Titanic’ returns to NYC with its unique brand of creativity
Photo: Colin Hamell stars in Jimmy Titanic, now playing at the Irish Repertory Theatre. Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg / Provided by Press Agent.
Jimmy Titanic, the acclaimed one-man show starring Colin Hamell, recently returned to New York City as part of Origin’s 1st Irish Theatre Festival. The play, directed by Carmel O’Reilly and written by Bernard McMullan, serves as a unique and surreal take on the sinking of the Titanic.
In the show, which is playing the Irish Repertory Theatre, the title character is a Belfast shipyard worker who finds himself a rock star in heaven. As he tells the audience about his ordeal both aboard and building the ship, Jimmy uses historical fiction and biting humor to tell the well-known story using a unique lens.
“An actor, Colin Hamell, who runs the theater company Tír Na, here in Boston, he approached with me a script from Bernard McMullan, and it was a new script,” O’Reilly said in a recent phone interview. “It was Jimmy Titanic, and I read the script and thought, yep, Colin’s the guy for it. It’s a wonderful script to work with because, well, first of all, it was the very subject of the Titanic, and there’s such interest in itself, almost too much. But … you have a script like Bernard’s, where you can sit with the script, and each scene is offering a different insight or a view or a perspective on a subject that has garnered so much information and interest over the years.”
That first reading took place in 2012, and the production eventually went on to play New York City, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s fateful trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Now they’ve been asked back to revive that production from five years ago.
O’Reilly said she has a cultural connection to the story of the Titanic because of Northern Ireland’s role in the tragic tale. “That interested me having come from Northern Ireland, from Belfast, with such a history with the shipyards in Northern Ireland, and the whole history with the Titanic, and the great pride they had taken in it and that ordinary men were involved,” she said. “It’s a one-man show, so in itself there’s an intimacy about that. There’s one person who is regaling us with this story, and this story has little twists and movements that are really the result of something very creative.”
To remount the show for this present New York City engagement, O’Reilly and Hamell reviewed the script and met in person in the Boston area. They completed a few rehearsals and then adapted the show for the new space of the Irish Rep’s W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre, where the play continues until Feb. 18.
“That’s one of the problems when you tour a piece,” she said. “You’re always getting different space at different venues and working with a new lighting director. … So, with that in mind, Colin and I will have conversations about changes that might happen or how we might accommodate those changes. The interesting thing about doing something again is that, when you change things, it fires up the imagination. You get out of the habit of what you did, and you actually get a new perspective on the play also. Every time I read the script, I think, gee, did I miss that last time.”
O’Reilly seems to feel at home at the Irish Repertory Theatre, which is the leading presenter of classic and new works from Irish playwrights in the Big Apple. Right now, the company, headed by Ciarán O’Reilly and Charlotte Moore, is also staging a revival of Disco Pigs by Enda Walsh.
“The Irish Repertory Theatre, first of all, I have to say that Ciarán and Charlotte have been amazing to work with, making this possible, giving us a good designer to work with,” the director said. “It’s quite the honor and privilege that the Irish Repertory Theatre has taken us on, so I think that says something about the play as well. Hopefully we’ll fulfill their expectations.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Jimmy Titanic continues through Feb. 18 at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
