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Where is everyone, kidnapped?
Swashbuckling adventure with David Balfour played by Stewart McCheyne Kidnapped
New Alexandra Theatre
**** IT MUST have been something of a
disappointment to The Sell A Door Theatre Company when they stepped out
on to stage to begin their first night of Kidnapped, at the Alexandra
theatre, only to see what must have been eighty people had turned up to
see them deliver, what turned out to be an inventive and highly
entertaining piece of theatre. Perhaps it was the sub
title of a `family adventure’ that kept them away on a wet Monday school
night in the middle of winter or maybe the fact that a boys own
swashbuckling adventure just doesn’t have the attraction anymore unless
Johnny Depp is involved . Ivan Wilkinson has adapted this Robert Louis
Stevenson story for the stage and it his first play. Together with
Director Anna Fox and a very skilled company they have brought to life a
story which covers many locations by using some excellent stagecraft and
clever staging. Kidnapped tells the tale of a young Scot, David
Balfour at the time of the Jacobite and Clan uprisings in Scotland who,
on the death of his father, is press-ganged into a sea journey by the
design of his scheming uncle who has sights on the boys inheritance. Balfour played by Stewart McCheyne encounters a
whole series of adventures all set within the framework of the politics
of a changing Scotland. He encounters Alan Breck, played by Simon Weir,
a sword wielding Jacobite and the pair build an unlikely friendship.
Jamie Laird plays the part of Balfour in his later years who also acts
as a narrator, retelling the story one night to friends and also manages
to take on several other roles. The cast is added to by Lesley Cook and
Christopher Anderton who again take on a variety of supporting roles.
The production is a skillfully directed piece of theatre as it also
involves elements of physical theatre, puppetry and a clever set which
is changed over by the players themselves. The lack of audience support on the night did not
stop anyone from delivering a highly professional and seamless
production yet it was hard not to keep noticing the empty seats around
me. Throughout the play I kept wondering where everyone was, Kidnapped
maybe? Let’s hope they get more audience support in the
future and as they go on as they clearly deserve it. To 04-03-14. Jeff Grant
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