A mega-musical that’s like watching the Downton cast crammed into a telephone kiosk

Hats off for theatrical recklessness. The producer Danielle Tarento has taken a $10-million Broadway mega-musical and staged it in the 240-seat Southwark Playhouse. Titanic, by Peter Stone and Maury Yeston, opened in 1997 to howls of critical derision that it merrily ignored. The run lasted for two years. The writers take a comprehensive approach. All the passengers, from first class to steerage, are represented. There are smut-smeared boilermen and bustling waiters. Salts of various ranks are shown alongside the designer, the builder, the financiers, the lot. It’s like watching the Downton cast crammed into a telephone kiosk. This method leaves no room for a catchy storyline to appear. Quite deliberately. The Titanic is more than a doomed keel or a journey into oblivion, it’s an emblem of man’s ambition, daring and self-belief. And these are specifically American virtues. The ship that drowned on its way to New York is a tragic icon for all the hulks and rust buckets that got through safely.