Exhibition: Titanic Honour and Glory, No. 1 Smithery: The Gallery, The Historic Dockyard Chatham, until September 30 2011Even hardened souls who spent most of the film wishing Celine Dion would pipe down a bit will probably recall the scene from Titanic where Leonardo di Caprio drew Kate Winslet’s portrait as she sprawled seductively on a couch.
Check the time on a watch used by a leading waitor on the Titanic
Now, 14 years after James Cameron’s melodramatic blockbuster, a
cinematic re-enactment is up for grabs in Chatham. The Dockyard’s
gallery is featuring an interactive dressing up area in Honour and
Glory, challenging wannabe sea sirens to recreate Winslet’s pouting.
Later this month (August 20-21) you can even try on the gleaming Heart
of the Ocean necklace – placed around Winslet’s neck by Billy Zane’s
odious character – and have a Hollywood-style shot snapped by a
professional for a fiver.
Artefacts from maritime history fill the Smithery
For those more interested in the history of the famous doomed ship
itself, there’s everything from dinner plates which served the first
meals on the decks to a fountain pen once owned by its captain and a
recovered silver pocket watch, forever stuck on 2.28am – the time it plunged
into icy water. An 18-carat gold timekeeper belonged to the ship’s first
class A La Carte waiter, and you can also paw at more props and costumes
once worn by Winslet and friends.
More than two million people have seen the show since it opened in 2002, suggesting that, like Cameron’s film, this is a box office winner.
- Admission £7.50-£15 (family ticket £42.50, includes readmission for a year, one-day tickets £8-£11). Visit the show homepage for more.
