Treasured

A Unique Theatrical Event

Treasured

About the project

Conceived and Created by Jen Heyes.
Written and composed by by Ailís Ní Ríain.
Designed by Olivia du Monceau

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral is transformed into a living, breathing canvas of Titanic proportions delivered by a company of highly experienced creative collaborators to bring a production on an awesome and intimate scale inside the Cathedral space.

Highly accomplished and established musician Brendan Ball (co-principal trumpet and principal cornet with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra) played original music live as part of Treasured, alongside live recordings of cutting edge contemporary classical music created especially by Irish multi prize-winning classical composerAilís Ní Ríain.

 

‘The really eerie moments come from the projections onto the huge wall spaces of the cathedral. It is uncanny to witness the ship sailing down into the nave. To find yourself underneath looking up at the hull sailing overhead is chilling. A high-wire act features a young woman descending into the deep and drowning, her lifeless body hanging a hundred or so feet up in the rippling blue space of the cathedral.
Treasured is a clever, eerie, disturbing piece of work. a tale of dreams shattered, of greed which met a sorry end, of power and dominance which met the power of nature – and came off the worse.
It should be seen.
The ArtsDesk

4*

CAST
Nicola Bentley, Brian Dodd, Christopher Hollinshead, Nick Birkinshaw and Laura Campbell

Live Music: Brendan Ball

Additional Music: Simon Chappell, Simon Cowen, Simon Griffiths, Rhys Owens

Co producer : Nick Owen

Lighting Design: Phil Saunders

Video Production: Illuminos

Aerial Work: Wired Aerial Theatre

Sound Design: Adam Sloan

Photography: Robin Kaye

The image of the Titanic speeding onward as the sea rushes towards the audience and as the ship seemed to go over the top of them the sea enveloped them and took them down. Incredible imagery, superbly narrated and with a cast that lived the moment, this really was one of the most outstanding pieces of theatre

IAN D.HALL

5 stars

Ailis Ni Riain’s original composition for a lone trumpet player, performed live by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s Brendan Ball adds a strong layer to proceedings, the simplicity cuts through the evening perfectly

The Public Reviews

Metaphor and irony resound throughout – you are, quite literally, embarking on something extraordinary as you make your way to the great nave

What’s on Stage

The story of the Titanic is spectacularly reimagined in the city where the ship was registered

The Arts Desk

4 stars

Successfully avoiding most of the clichés – both musical and narrative – that have a way of attaching themselves to tales of great tragedy. Not easily pigeonholed, the work incorporates storytelling, aerial theatre, dramatic projections and music in following the liner’s story from construction to collision

Liverpool Daily Post

Treasured was concerned with class critique and the internationalism of its passenger list, a number of whose names were called during the performance in the manner of official mourning

Total Theatre

Treasured was concerned with class critique and the internationalism of its passenger list, a nTreasured made an eloquent statement about the inescapability of history when the projection of passengers’ names settled into an image of the offices of the White Star Line in Liverpool, a building still in existence today. Respectfully lifting the lid on the archives for dramatic purposes, Treasured demonstrated that unlike the physical ruins of the super-liner, this history will never be laid to restumber of whose names were called during the performance in the manner of official mourning

Total Theatre