The Last Ship Review: Sting's musical voyage in need of tighter dramatic architecture
23 September 2026 | 19:30 | Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London (International Tour)
⭐⭐⭐ | PR - Invite
There is a great musical somewhere inside The Last Ship, and frustratingly, this impressive production gets tantalisingly close to finding it.
With music and lyrics by Sting (The Police) and a new book by Barney Norris, the musical takes audiences into a North-Eastern shipbuilding community fighting for more than employment. Work, family, pride and identity have become inseparable here, something that resonates strongly with me having grown up in a working-class Scottish community, with family and neighbours closely connected to the shipyards.
Director Leo Warner understands this sense of community beautifully. His staging is exceptionally fluid: scenes bleed into one another, platforms fly overhead, smaller vignettes continue underneath and the next location manifests, before the previous one has entirely disappeared. This shipyard isn't simply scenery, it feels inhabited and alive.
Combining Jenny Melville's industrial design and props, Loren Elstein's costume, Adam Bassett's lighting, Tom Gibbons' sound and Benjamin Pearcy's colossal video design (under 59 Studio), the creative team front a production of considerable scale without losing the people inside it. The final image of the ship launching, as our perspective appears to rise above it, is genuinely thrilling.
And what a company Warner has assembled. Sting performs the role of Jackie White with quiet authority and warmth, while Shaggy's Ferryman (until September 23rd) brings wit and welcome mischief. Declan Bennett is brilliant as Gideon: his Dead Man's Boots is a standout number, reflecting the internal conflict of a man wrestling with his expectations and the inheritance handed down to him.
Frances McNamee's Meg and Jackie Morrison's Peggy are equally compelling, supported by an excellent principal company and ensemble in which even the smallest of characters feel wholly realistic. And this ensemble may be the production's secret weapon. They don't just populate scenes for visual impact, they breathe community. Relationships extend to the edges of the action, and their collective sound is enormous when they all come together.
Rebecca Howell's choreography similarly succeeds when movement grows from character. The chair work and storytelling of If You Ever See Me Talking To A Sailor and the joyous pub atmosphere of Nowt Else are entirely indigenous to this world. Show Some Respect however introduces partner work, which is curiously imposed on characters who had otherwise moved so naturally.
Which comes to the musical's central flaw. The Last Ship doesn't have 'too much' music, rather music is doing a job that drama could do better. We need these exceptional actors to stay in the scene, rather than move into a new song. They desperately need conversation, interruption, moments of silence. Lets us see these relationships change, rather than hearing the characters sing about how they feel.
This especially affects the central romance, which makes substantial bounds towards love, marriage and family without giving dramatic groundwork to believe in their journey. Ironically, Warner's production proves how compelling these characters are once the music stops. Quieter exchanges reveal more than larger declarations, and we need more. This is what prevents The Last Ship from really excelling.
The performances, design, company and musicianship all operate at a four-star level. What is needs is further refinement in its dramatic architecture underneath: trimming the songs that repeat an emotional beat, strengthening the dialogue and trusting the company with space and silence. We know The Last Ship has spectacle and enormous heart, but now comes the time to pause the music, and let the people speak.
The Last Ship plays at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane until October 3rd: https://thelastship-musical.com/
