Reviews and Audience Feedback
Official Reviews
Reviews from our West End run at Jermyn Street Theatre 2019 The Times 4 stars https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/shackletons-carpenter-review-taut-production-that-grasps-the-attention-h9jrlbbrf The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/aug/01/shackletons-carpenter-review-jermyn-street-theatre-london “...a nuanced and masterful performance worthy of a Beckett play” The Guardian London Living Large 5 stars http://www.londonlivinglarge.com/2019/08/shackletons-carpenter-jermyn-street.html?m=1 "Rennie holds the audience spellbound with a bravura performance" Broadway World 4 Stars https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/BWW-Review-SHACKLETONS-CARPENTER-Jermyn-Street-Theatre-20190802 London Theatre 1 4 Stars https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/play/review-of-shackletons-carpenter-at-jermyn-street-theatre/ Theatre World https://www.theatreworldim2.com/shackletonscarpenter "a no-holds-barred tour-de-force of immensely gripping integrity" Theatre Cat https://theatrecat.com/2019/08/01/shackletons-carpenter-jermyn-st-sw1/ “A tremendous, unforgettable performance “ Mark Aspen - Twickenham Tribune September 2018 "In Shackleton’s Carpenter, we relive the hardships of Harry McNish through a tour de force one-man performance by ex-RSC actor, Malcolm Rennie. Right from his startling first appearance, precipitated from his nightmare, we are riveted by Rennie’s McNish." "There is also beauty in the descriptions of Antarctica, the blackness of the long polar winter, the sounds of ice floes cracking, the smell of blubber, the taste of albatross flesh, the biting of the cold, and the clear aquamarine shimmer of ice and water in summer. The script is consummately written by playwright, Gail Louw, and much of the realisation of the production is credited to the late original director, Tony Milner, who died in 2005 and in whose memory the production is dedicated" Read the full review here: https://markaspen.wordpress.com/2018/09/13/carpenter/ also published in the Twickenham Tribune Malcolm Rennie is currently touring the country with a one- man play about McNish. Its first night ended with a standing ovation! Highly recommended! - Julian Dunn comment Scottish Times
FRINGE REVIEW Louw’s writing is outstanding. Rennie’s performance is a mesmerising tour-de-force of unparalleled intensity. (Eastbourne Herald). Marooned on the dry land of a Wellington wharf and reduced to living in a wooden hull, Harry harangued his destiny. Waving hands shrunken and crippled by frostbite, he raged at the ghost of his boss, one minute in salutation, the next in reflective contemplation. Whisky and tea were his only tangible companions: invisible to all but his imagination were cats, penguins, arctic seals and husky puppies. Former shipmates crowded his dreams, friend and foe alike. Poignantly, he yearned for his dead wives and lost children. Malcolm Rennie took the stage as Harry in a role that required almost the courage and stamina of a polar expedition. Single handed, he conjured up the horrors and the beauty of the polar landscape in a theatrical monologue of rare dramatic quality. Gail Louw’s play asked questions to which there were no answers: did Harry mind never receiving a Polar Medal? Why is Harry alone and destitute? What will happen to him? It was a tribute to the ability of Malcolm Rennie and the script of Gail Louw that we cared. (The Argus) 4* Fringe Review At the end, the Old Market audience gave thunderous applause for what had been a very powerful production of a clever, elegantly constructed play. Getting one character to create several others on stage is no easy task, but Louw’s writing and Rennie’s performance made the illusion really believable. Louw’s writing is outstanding. Rennie’s performance is a mesmerising tour-de-force of unparalleled intensity. (Eastbourne Herald).
Played to capacity audiences ...90 minutes of riveting storytelling. .. Malcolm Rennie conjures up a roaring man, acidic, vengeful and lost ... within a stunning performance we slowly witness the disintegration of a personality. 4* (Surrey Advertiser) |
Audience Comments
"Amazing play well done Gail!" "Well done - fully deserved" "Congrats - So fantastic!" "I was blown away by the performance. it was wonderful." "Captivating performance by Malcolm." "Shackleton's Carpenter is everything you want at the theatre -- wonderful show, beautifully acted, and a powerful and memorable storyline. It received a standing ovation." "Malcolm is great actor and a wonderful person. Malcolm really captures the essence of Harry McNish and the incredible work McNish did to help save potentially doomed crew of the Endurance in Antarctica in the early 1900's." "Definitely worth seeing this incredible show." "Powerful acting presenting an interpretation of the events on a famous antarctic journey" "Fantastic performance and really well executed idea. Highly recommended." "Astonishingly powerful performance by Malcom Rennie! Totally captivating! The performance at the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock was attended by many of Chippy’s relatives. In our party alone were great nieces, great great nephew and great great great nephews. All incredibly proud but also very sad." "Terrific play - terrific actor. Highly appreciative audience at Dundee Rep last night." "Great performance by Malcolm Rennie at Dundee Rep tonight, really held our attention." |
Shackleton's Carpenter, The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove, Wednesday, January 21 By Louise Schweitzer
Harry McNish was explorer Ernest Shackleton’s carpenter on the ill-fated polar expedition ship, Endurance.
Marooned on the dry land of a Wellington wharf and reduced to living in a wooden hull, Harry harangued his destiny.
Waving hands shrunken and crippled by frostbite, he raged at the ghost of his boss, one minute in salutation, the next in reflective contemplation.
Whisky and tea were his only tangible companions: invisible to all but his imagination were cats, penguins, arctic seals and husky puppies.
Former shipmates crowded his dreams, friend and foe alike. Poignantly, he yearned for his dead wives and lost children.
Malcolm Rennie took the stage as Harry in a role that required almost the courage and stamina of a polar expedition.
Single handed, he conjured up the horrors and the beauty of the polar landscape in a theatrical monologue of rare dramatic quality.
Gail Louw’s play asked questions to which there were no answers: did Harry mind never receiving a Polar Medal? Why is Harry alone and destitute? What will happen to him?
It was a tribute to the ability of Malcolm Rennie and the script of Gail Louw that we cared.
THURSDAY, 22 JANUARY 2015
Harry McNish was explorer Ernest Shackleton’s carpenter on the ill-fated polar expedition ship, Endurance.
Marooned on the dry land of a Wellington wharf and reduced to living in a wooden hull, Harry harangued his destiny.
Waving hands shrunken and crippled by frostbite, he raged at the ghost of his boss, one minute in salutation, the next in reflective contemplation.
Whisky and tea were his only tangible companions: invisible to all but his imagination were cats, penguins, arctic seals and husky puppies.
Former shipmates crowded his dreams, friend and foe alike. Poignantly, he yearned for his dead wives and lost children.
Malcolm Rennie took the stage as Harry in a role that required almost the courage and stamina of a polar expedition.
Single handed, he conjured up the horrors and the beauty of the polar landscape in a theatrical monologue of rare dramatic quality.
Gail Louw’s play asked questions to which there were no answers: did Harry mind never receiving a Polar Medal? Why is Harry alone and destitute? What will happen to him?
It was a tribute to the ability of Malcolm Rennie and the script of Gail Louw that we cared.
THURSDAY, 22 JANUARY 2015
Shackleton’s Carpenter
Posted on February 3, 2015
https://loiteringinthetheatre.wordpress.com/tag/malcolm-rennie/
New Vic Productions in association with Eastbourne Theatres are currently touringShackleton’s Carpenter, a play by Gail Louw directed by Tony Milner. The play stars Malcolm Rennie as Harry McNish, the carpenter on Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-17. McNish accompanied Shackleton on the legendary lifeboat voyage to fetch help after the ship, the Endurance, was crushed by pack ice, and his carpentry work on the lifeboat was instrumental in helping the crew to survive. Nevertheless, he was one of the few members of the expedition who never received the Polar Medal, and he died destitute in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1930, a few months after this play is set. It is possible that his open disagreement with Shackleton after the Endurance‘s sinking is one of the reasons why he was denied the Polar Medal, though this is by no means certain.
Rennie gives a powerful and affecting performance as the now-older carpenter, recalling his adventures on the ice and his disagreement with Shackleton. His anecdotes and stories are fascinating to hear. One sad story involves the shooting of McNish’s cat, Mrs Chippy, because he would not have survived the trip to safety. McNish appears to have remained resentful of this for the rest of his life.
As someone with an interest in polar history, this play was a must-see for me but even if you have no prior knowledge or understanding of the events discussed, it’s worth seeing for Gail Louw’s fascinating play and Malcolm Rennie’s superb performance.
Posted on February 3, 2015
https://loiteringinthetheatre.wordpress.com/tag/malcolm-rennie/
New Vic Productions in association with Eastbourne Theatres are currently touringShackleton’s Carpenter, a play by Gail Louw directed by Tony Milner. The play stars Malcolm Rennie as Harry McNish, the carpenter on Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-17. McNish accompanied Shackleton on the legendary lifeboat voyage to fetch help after the ship, the Endurance, was crushed by pack ice, and his carpentry work on the lifeboat was instrumental in helping the crew to survive. Nevertheless, he was one of the few members of the expedition who never received the Polar Medal, and he died destitute in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1930, a few months after this play is set. It is possible that his open disagreement with Shackleton after the Endurance‘s sinking is one of the reasons why he was denied the Polar Medal, though this is by no means certain.
Rennie gives a powerful and affecting performance as the now-older carpenter, recalling his adventures on the ice and his disagreement with Shackleton. His anecdotes and stories are fascinating to hear. One sad story involves the shooting of McNish’s cat, Mrs Chippy, because he would not have survived the trip to safety. McNish appears to have remained resentful of this for the rest of his life.
As someone with an interest in polar history, this play was a must-see for me but even if you have no prior knowledge or understanding of the events discussed, it’s worth seeing for Gail Louw’s fascinating play and Malcolm Rennie’s superb performance.
In the late 1920s, at the docks in Wellington, a Scottish former carpenter-and-shipbuilder called Harry McNish could sometimes be found sleeping rough under a tarpaulin, only surviving thanks to a monthly charity collection organised by the dockworkers. They presumably did this because he was a hero, of sorts. McNish had been on Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914, where his handiwork - for example, improvising a boat-sealant out of seal blood, flour and paint - had been “absolutely integral” in ensuring everyone survived, says the Hove-based playwright Gail Louw, who’s written a play about him. On the way to the Antarctic, Shackleton’s ship had got stuck in pack-ice for nine months, then sunk. The crew had to wait another five months before the ice broke up and they could get to open sea. Most of them then took shelter on an island, while six men took one lifeboat and went for help, sailing 800 miles in awful conditions and landing on the wrong side of an inhabited island, meaning Shackleton and two others had to walk over an unmapped and unclimbed mountain range. They did it in 36 hours, hardly stopping. At one point, Shackleton let the other two sleep for five minutes, then ‘told them that they had slept for half an hour,’ he recalled later. “I always thought it was just a blokey adventure, but it’s not; it’s an extraordinary story of survival, absolutely against the odds,” Louw says. “And the people didn’t end up going crazy; they played football, and put on songs and toasted their sweethearts and wives every Saturday. It was all very civilised, and that was absolutely thanks to Shackleton. There’s no doubt about it, he was an extraordinary man.” However, seemingly out of pettiness, when Shackleton was given the opportunity to recommend men for the Polar Medal, he cited most of his crew but omitted McNish. “The thing with McNish is that he challenged Shackleton, and nobody did that,” Louw says. After they’d abandoned ship, Shackleton had told the men to drag the three lifeboats across the ice. McNish believed, correctly, that this would damage the boats too much, and argued against the order in front of everyone. “Shackleton never forgave him.” Though McNish respected Shackleton, the two didn’t have a good relationship, Louw says. She feels that generally McNish “wasn’t really one of the boys. He was a very religious man, a strong socialist, and he got angry at people for swearing. He was quite dour. I don’t think he was the easiest companion, but he had his friends. He had very strong principles… he was just a real person who went through these extraordinary times. “The idea of being stuck in the middle of the sea, with no chance of getting away, nobody knows whether you’re alive or dead, you know there’s a war going on but you don’t know whether it’s finished… it’s quite extraordinary, and he lived through it, and, as I said, was absolutely instrumental in making sure everybody survived.” Steve Ramsey Louw’s play, Shackleton’s Carpenter, Vivabrighton,com