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History brought to life
Kidnapped
B2 Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
**** ROBERT Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped is
such a well-known tale and yet in the hands of Sell a Door Theatre
company it is brought alive with a really dynamic approach that involves
a great and versatile set, music, dance and memorable acting. A company of five actors provide all of the parts
topped off with some oversized puppets that deserved to be developed
more in the story-telling. An older David Balfour (Jamie Laird) tells the
story of his 17-year-old self (Stewart McCheyne), kidnapped and sold
into slavery for a paltry sum and sent to the Carolinas by his wicked
and jealous uncle (Christopher Anderton) to whom he had turned after his
father’s death. His adventures, as he raised himself up from
captive slave to cabin boy, after the murder of his only friend on board
ship Ransom (Lesley Cook), befriending outlaw Alan Breck (Simon Weir) on
the way. Historically the scene is complex and set against
the bewildering Jacobite rebellions when the toast ‘to the King across
the water’ could get you stamped out like an ant. The sense of danger
and suspicion is well-handled and heightened by Psycho-style
Hitchcockian violin! The clever use of folksong, particularly ‘Charlie
is my darling’ which provides a leitmotif throughout and also
sets the scene historically. Alan Breck has a habit of rewarding his
supporters by writing a quick folksong for them and this in itself shows
that Bonny Prince Charlie had colossal support in the Highlands. The
ongoing clan warfare which set family against family and particularly
against the lowland Campbells added an extra dimension to both young
Davey’s adventures and the drama. Some of the younger members of the audience – and
it was probably 25 per cent eight to 12 years old – might have found the
Scottish accents a bit bewildering so maybe a course of BBC Scotland
before you go could help. I was sitting in the front row which is a
difficult place to get a full view but even here the fight scenes were
thoroughly believable. A word for the set – and it would be ‘wonderful’.
In a small space the set, two great curving walls, took seconds to turn
from a full-rigged ship to a castle to a bar and a homely fireside. As a half-term treat, this production adapted by
Ivan Wilkinson and directed by Anna Fox, offers a great lesson in
history, a backdrop to the Scottish independence movement and an
entertaining story that stands on its own merits. To 31-05-14 Jane Howard
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