Performed by Michael
Veitch
Co-written with Peter
Houghton
Chester Creative
The Q Theatre,
Queanbeyan to 22 February
Reviewed by Len Power
21 February 2020
A shocking story from the past, now mostly forgotten in the
mists of time, the harrowing voyage of the emigrant vessel, Ticonderoga, comes
alive onstage in Michael Veitch’s new one man show, ‘Hell Ship’.
In 1852, 800 passengers and crew left England for Melbourne
on board the ship. They were mostly
Scottish families seeking a new life in Australia. An outbreak of typhus on board killed a
quarter of the passengers and crew.
Victims were buried at sea and it was said that schools of sharks
followed the vessel. On arrival in
Australia, the ship was forbidden to dock in Melbourne and was forced to anchor
near Portsea where the remaining passengers were either nursed back to health
or allowed to die.
In the play, the now elderly surgeon, who was aboard the
ship as a young man and survived the fateful voyage, reminisces about his
experience on the ship many years later while caring for a very ill patient
overnight in Melbourne.
On a simple but effective setting, the production creates a
strong atmosphere of the period with hauntingly effective sound and light
designs and clever use of projections.
Michael Veitch gives a fine solo performance as the elderly
surgeon, drawing us deeply into the details of the horror voyage as death
stalks the ship mercilessly. He wisely
keeps his performance low key and avoids histrionics. The result is chillingly effective.
At the end of the play we are left with a projected period
photograph of a man and a woman. The man
was Michael Veitch’s great-great-grandfather, James William Henry Veitch, the
surgeon he portrays in the play. It’s a
powerful ending to an absorbing story of courage, human suffering and survival.
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast on the Artsound FM 92.7 ‘In the Foyer’ program on Mondays
and Wednesdays at 3.30pm.
‘Theatre of Power’, a
regular podcast on Canberra’s performing arts scene with Len Power, can be
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