Sting has said that working on a play inspired by his childhood in the West End has been a "kind of therapy".
The former Police singer will debut in the West End with a newly reimagined production of The Last Ship for a limited run in the autumn. It has been inspired by Sting's own personal childhood experiences, and knowledge of the shipbuilding industry in Wallsend, England.
The play sees Sting play Jackie White, the shipyard's foreman facing pressure to show leadership as his health continues to deteriorate. The shipbuilders are facing the closure of their shipyard, which is the heartbeat of their existence.
“Wallsend was a pretty tough place to grow up and I was a very sensitive, artistic child", Sting said on growing up in Wallsend. “So, my strategy for survival was to befriend the biggest thugs in school. They were my best friends, so I was sort of protected".
It turns out one of these "thugs" inspired a song for the play: “I wrote a song about one of my friends who was known as the pugilist, because he was fighting the whole time".
Asked if he ever returns, Sting added: “It’s a hole in the ground now, the shipyard is closed now, but I go back to my hometown occasionally, quietly. I go back quietly".
Sting claimed that putting this play together was a form of "therapy" for him as he revisited a childhood which was far from perfect, it is fair to say.
The Last Ship is inspired by the singer's complicated relationship with his parents, with Sting revealing that he can feel the "ghost" of his father in the theatre during the show.
“I learned to love him. He learned to love me", he said.
“In many ways it’s a kind of therapy, because my childhood wasn’t particularly happy", Sting continued.
He continued: “I was brought up in a surreal industrial environment with a difficult family, and so going back there was a little painful".
“But I now appreciate what a gift it was, that I was brought up somewhere with powerful symbolism – a giant shipyard at the end of the street, the river, the sea, the church".
“All of those things were powerful symbols in any artist’s life to be gifted, so I wanted to tell the story of my town in as honourable a way and truthful a way as I could", he added. “I didn’t want to be so rose-tinted and nostalgic about a way of life that was desperately hard and dangerous, one that I escaped, but I also want to express the pride that community had in what they built".
The play has also seen an international run, where it has visited Amsterdam, Brisbane, and Paris, prior to an upcoming show in New York's Metropolitan in June, before returning to Amsterdam in the autumn.
“My brother came to see the play in Amsterdam and he was a wreck", Sting said. “He knew exactly what we were telling, and I’m a bit of a wreck too, but it’s a lovely, warm feeling of understanding".
“My parents are very young when they had me, they had no idea how to bring me up at all, but now I write about them as they’re my kids, so it’s reconciliation of a lot of different emotional challenges and strains that gets a a catharsis in a theatrical setting".
Sting went on to explain the nuances of writing a play, compared with writing music.
“I’m not just writing from my own point of view, here, you know, I’m not even playing myself here, I’m playing a composite of people that I knew", he said. “I’m also writing for people of different genders, I’m writing for women, for young women, for older women, for people who aren’t me. So, that’s a refreshing change, not to be navel gazing, and thinking, what am I going to write about?".
“I’m writing in other people’s shoes, looking at the world through their eyes, and that’s freeing".
The Last Ship will run at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane from 22 September to 3 October.
This comes as Sting insists that he has no plans to retire anytime soon. More on this from Nova here.
