The Boat Factory portrays Davy Gordon as a shy 16 year old joiner’s apprentice at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in West Belfast. Life in the shipyard is tough for young Davy, who has to try his hardest to make it in a tough career. Geordie is a more confident apprentice, despite being labelled a cripple because of his childhood polio. Geordie helps Davy on his arrival in an attempt to protect him from being torn apart by the bosses, quickly beginning an exciting new friendship. This develops in the highest part of the yard as they overlook the staggering production below. However, the friends face major challenges and through their eyes the hardships that the Harland and Wolff workers dealt with (the corruption, the difficulty and the dangers of working there) are powerfully illustrated.
Dan Gordon and Michael Condron take the principal roles in the play as Davy and Geordie respectively but they also portray other minor characters. Gordon switches between Davy as an old man, looking back on his life, as well as the 16 year old. Both men are excellent and made it difficult to say whose performance was strongest. Adding to the play’s sense of realism were the sound effects; though only used occasionally, these were effective in illustrating the atmosphere of the shipyard.
What most makes this piece of historical theatre engaging is the lively and witty behaviour of the young men.The passion of the actors for storytelling also shines through, dimming any sense of fiction. The sincerity used to tell the history of the boatyard demonstrates how formative it is for Belfast families today. This is a story that must not be forgotten and this play assures that the yard will remain ingrained in the cultural memory. The rapturous applause at the emotional conclusion was confirmation of the production’s excellence. The tears in the eyes of Dan Gordon on receiving the crowd’s response made it a spine-tingling finale.
