Theatre review: The Boat Factory, Hill Street Theatre (Venue 41), Edinburgh

THERE’S plenty of high emotion at Hill Street this year, not least in this touching play about the life of a shipyard worker at Belfast’s huge Harland and Wolff yard, written as part of the Titanic 2012 commemoration.

The Boat Factory

Hill Street Theatre (Venue 41)

Star rating: * * *

Once a bright-eyed young apprentice in the 1950s, now facing death thanks to years of exposure to asbestos dust, the play’s hero Davy Gordon is a fictionalised version of the playwright Dan Gordon, who also plays the role; and in an eloquent but fact-laden theatre-in-education-type show, he and fellow performer Michael Condron lead us through the story of Davy’s life from childhood to retirement, and the decline of the yards as a major employer.

The show’s main dramatic interest lies in Davy’s interaction with the other characters, from limping carpenter Geordie – who becomes Davy’s best friend – to the violent foreman. The play serves to remind us of the brutality and danger of manual work in an age when “health and safety” barely existed and also of the tight bonds of male friendships forged in the yards, and the sheer grandeur of the huge works of construction they undertook. From their lunchtime perch high above the yard, Davy and Geordie can see it all; and they describe that long-gone scene for us, in memorably vivid terms.

• Until 26 August. Today 6:30pm.