Robert Louis Stevenson's book 'Treasure Island' was brought to the National Theatre's stage on January 22nd 2015. The show was adapted by Bryony Lavery and directed by Polly Findlay. This theatre review is discussing all things Treasure Island and this is my detailed synopsis of 'The National Theatre Live! Treasure Island'.
Treasure Island is a thrilling story of Murder, Money and Mutiny. It's plot follows young Jim Hawkins who embarks on an adventure with a startling stranger who he opened the door of the ship to, unfolding a whole new problem.
When the show first starts we immediately see Patsy Ferran (Jim Hawkins) narrating the scene. After watching the introduction it was made very clear that the character of Jim Hawkins would be played by a girl. Ferran dominated the stage when first entering and made the story clear from the start. Ferran portrays the character's age effectively as she comes in full of life and excited. Her pace was fast and she has a cockney-ish accent. I would say that Ferran also used her hands a lot whilst speaking indicating she is an open person who enjoys alking about what she loves. However, when I was around half way through the performance I noticed that there was no variety in the way that Ferran was speaking and throughout she had the same tone and pitch. Everyhing was very dramatic and I felt to balance this some naturalistic moments were necessary . I often found it hard to follow the story line because I was focusing too much on the fact that Ferran was not changing her voice as much as I would hope. Despite this, I would say that Ferran worked well with her fellow actors and had good chemistry with them on stage. I would say that she especially bounced off her fellow actor Arthur Darvill (Long John Silver). When we first meet Long John Silver it is clear that he has a great understanding of ships and he has a broad history of working on them. Ferran and Darvill hit it off straight away in the show and Darvill immediately starts teaching Ferran all there is to know about ships and plays on his youthful personality and ways of living. Long John Silver is the cook on the ship and is quite a comedic character in my opinion. He immediately breaks the ice with Jim and makes fun out of the fact that he has a wooden leg. He tells Ferran that they are a common occurrence in different crews and tells her about what she should expect if she wants to work on a ship her whole life. Darvill teaches Ferran how to use a knife as a weapon like it is a normal situation. This shows us the ruthless nature of Long John Silver and that he can just stare into the face of danger. Overall, I would say that the two work together superbly and they are both each others sidekicks.
As mentioned in the introduction to Treasure Island, the crew focused immensely on the set and props. It was clear straight away that the play was set on an 18th Century ship. Throughout the lighting was pretty dark which I understood because the play is quite dark in itself and a lot of it was set at night. Personally, I was not a fan of this decision because I found it too dark and I felt as though there were never any lighter moments of the play apart from when the crew were in the ship at night and it was lit by what resembled candle light. There were a lot of entrances which triggered the lighting to change Jim Hawkins was met with a spotlight and Bill Bones (Aidan Kelly) had backlighting. When a storm was taking place the lights were flashing and it was crystal clear what was going on. I was impressed with the lighting overall, it was just a shame that the set was so dark. Around 5 minutes into the performance the set started to rotate upward. During set changes all of the actors pulled their weight and made it look like they were indeed workers on a ship. The stage has different leaves and the audience always has a clear view of what's occurring. The blocking on stage was overall very well though out and I would say every move was cautiously chosen. The only point where I would say could be improved was when we were meeting Long John Sliver's crew and Captain Smollett (Paul Dodds) looked confused and was walking around the stage aimlessly. On the contrary, I can see why this decision may have been made because Dodds is quite a nervous character I would say. Other than this, the piece worked well and was smooth. Following on, costume. The one thing I have to say is that all costume was spot on. I knew this within an instant of Ferran walking in wearing rags and lower class attire. It was clear throughout who was of which class and crew. I would give a special mention to the character of Ben Gunn (Joshua James) who was a character that had not had contact with people for many years. This was clear through the use of makeup. He is dirty and dusty. There is a yellow line covering his eyes which s an excellent choice of makeup and costume.
Overall, I would say that the director took many creative risks. Especially with most of the play being darker and mysterious throughout. It was also a big risk choosing a female actress to play the main character, especially when the book 'Treasure Island' is famously known for bring a book for boys. I would say that the risk to choose a female actress most definitely payed off and raised awareness that theatre has no gender, despite me not agreeing with all of the choices that Ferran made in her performance. However, the play as a whole lost a bit of its shine due to the dark lighting choice. I felt like I could not fully enjoy the show and to be honest, I kept zoning out in the middle of it. I understand that it is the taste of many other people, but I did not like some of the directing when it came to Jim Hawkins' character which took away from the rest of the performance for me.
Treasure Island is a thrilling story of Murder, Money and Mutiny. It's plot follows young Jim Hawkins who embarks on an adventure with a startling stranger who he opened the door of the ship to, unfolding a whole new problem.
When the show first starts we immediately see Patsy Ferran (Jim Hawkins) narrating the scene. After watching the introduction it was made very clear that the character of Jim Hawkins would be played by a girl. Ferran dominated the stage when first entering and made the story clear from the start. Ferran portrays the character's age effectively as she comes in full of life and excited. Her pace was fast and she has a cockney-ish accent. I would say that Ferran also used her hands a lot whilst speaking indicating she is an open person who enjoys alking about what she loves. However, when I was around half way through the performance I noticed that there was no variety in the way that Ferran was speaking and throughout she had the same tone and pitch. Everyhing was very dramatic and I felt to balance this some naturalistic moments were necessary . I often found it hard to follow the story line because I was focusing too much on the fact that Ferran was not changing her voice as much as I would hope. Despite this, I would say that Ferran worked well with her fellow actors and had good chemistry with them on stage. I would say that she especially bounced off her fellow actor Arthur Darvill (Long John Silver). When we first meet Long John Silver it is clear that he has a great understanding of ships and he has a broad history of working on them. Ferran and Darvill hit it off straight away in the show and Darvill immediately starts teaching Ferran all there is to know about ships and plays on his youthful personality and ways of living. Long John Silver is the cook on the ship and is quite a comedic character in my opinion. He immediately breaks the ice with Jim and makes fun out of the fact that he has a wooden leg. He tells Ferran that they are a common occurrence in different crews and tells her about what she should expect if she wants to work on a ship her whole life. Darvill teaches Ferran how to use a knife as a weapon like it is a normal situation. This shows us the ruthless nature of Long John Silver and that he can just stare into the face of danger. Overall, I would say that the two work together superbly and they are both each others sidekicks.
As mentioned in the introduction to Treasure Island, the crew focused immensely on the set and props. It was clear straight away that the play was set on an 18th Century ship. Throughout the lighting was pretty dark which I understood because the play is quite dark in itself and a lot of it was set at night. Personally, I was not a fan of this decision because I found it too dark and I felt as though there were never any lighter moments of the play apart from when the crew were in the ship at night and it was lit by what resembled candle light. There were a lot of entrances which triggered the lighting to change Jim Hawkins was met with a spotlight and Bill Bones (Aidan Kelly) had backlighting. When a storm was taking place the lights were flashing and it was crystal clear what was going on. I was impressed with the lighting overall, it was just a shame that the set was so dark. Around 5 minutes into the performance the set started to rotate upward. During set changes all of the actors pulled their weight and made it look like they were indeed workers on a ship. The stage has different leaves and the audience always has a clear view of what's occurring. The blocking on stage was overall very well though out and I would say every move was cautiously chosen. The only point where I would say could be improved was when we were meeting Long John Sliver's crew and Captain Smollett (Paul Dodds) looked confused and was walking around the stage aimlessly. On the contrary, I can see why this decision may have been made because Dodds is quite a nervous character I would say. Other than this, the piece worked well and was smooth. Following on, costume. The one thing I have to say is that all costume was spot on. I knew this within an instant of Ferran walking in wearing rags and lower class attire. It was clear throughout who was of which class and crew. I would give a special mention to the character of Ben Gunn (Joshua James) who was a character that had not had contact with people for many years. This was clear through the use of makeup. He is dirty and dusty. There is a yellow line covering his eyes which s an excellent choice of makeup and costume.
Overall, I would say that the director took many creative risks. Especially with most of the play being darker and mysterious throughout. It was also a big risk choosing a female actress to play the main character, especially when the book 'Treasure Island' is famously known for bring a book for boys. I would say that the risk to choose a female actress most definitely payed off and raised awareness that theatre has no gender, despite me not agreeing with all of the choices that Ferran made in her performance. However, the play as a whole lost a bit of its shine due to the dark lighting choice. I felt like I could not fully enjoy the show and to be honest, I kept zoning out in the middle of it. I understand that it is the taste of many other people, but I did not like some of the directing when it came to Jim Hawkins' character which took away from the rest of the performance for me.
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