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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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A scurvy crew, a treasure chest, a bloke in a dress and a parrot set for a voyage of fun in search of pirate gold. Pictures Nigel Espley. Treasure IslandDudley Little Theatre**** YO HO HO and a
bottle of rum . . . well a bottle of J2O
really as I had a galleon to drive home when we reached dry land again,
but you get the idea, me hearties. Dudley Little Theatre
has produced a splendidly rollicking alternative to a traditional panto
in Phil Willmott’s swashbuckling adaptation of
Treasure Island
. . . oh yes they have!!!!! The plot might not be quiet as Robert Louis
Stevenson might have remembered it but what the heck, its lively and its
fun opening with the scourge of the seas and scum of waterfront inns
around the world, or cast as we know them, bursting through doors and
scaring the living wits out of the landlubbing audience. The drunken revelry of the pirates was quite
splendid and, to their credit, maintained for the entire production. Our
first encounter was with Meg Trueblood, the landlady(ish) of The
Shipwright’s Arms in Southark. A fine figure of a woman, if you like beards that
is, played by Tony Stamp who did a fine job of engaging the sparse
audience with witty banter from the off. There are few sights as sad as a poorly attended
theatre offering scant reward for a more than decent production which is
the result of a lot of hard work and
But back to the watering hole for reprobates
where clean cut, well spoken, naïve Jim Hawkins, played with a nice air
of innocence by Charles Adey, arrives looking for a crew of honest,
God-fearing etc. sailors for an expedition. Told you the lad was naïve. And running the expedition is Lady, slap me
thighs and shiver me timbers, Jacqueline Trelawney played with bravado
and leather trousers by Julie Bywater.
She and Jim lad, (couldn’t resist that) then tell
the tale of Billy Bones, played, as is the remarkably similar looking
pirate George Merry, by Ben Martin Savage who manages the permanent
vacant stare of a psychopath even when he is happy. Bones is sought by Blind Pugh, played by Andrew
Rock in a fetching pair of what appear to be red welding goggles, along
with Black Dog, a sort of man cum shaggy Rottweiler played by Ellis
Daker, who is also pirate Harry Flash. From this play within a play we discover the
existence of Captain Flint’s treasure map and the dice is cast with
boring, stuffed shirt Capt Obadiah Smollett, played in prim and proper
fashion by Mike Kelly, leading the expedition ostensibly to hunt for
butterflies on Treasure Island under the watchful eye of Lady
Trelawney’s companion Miss Lucinda Livesey, played in an unworldly way
by Claire Hetherington. Butterflies . . . or wealth beyond your dreams?
She could be on a loser there. We meet the foppish pirate, all ruff rather than
rough, Gentleman Nathaniel Crisp, played by Phil Sheffield, who also led
the team creating the fine swashbuckling costumes, and come across the
likes of Israel Hands (Robert Gotch), Piccadilly Poll (Jean Potter),
Shoreditch Sal (Chris Ridgeway), Nightingale Nell (Louise Reed) and
Andrew Harding, or at least his arm, as Capt Flint the parrot. Then there was the
truly frightening Cheng I Sao played by Karen Whittingham, such a sweet
girl in All My Sons
a couple of months ago. Just shows what can happen to a girl if you get
in with the wrong crowd. Then the moment we have all been waiting for –
the entrance of Long John Silver where James Silvers – clever bit a name
Director Rebecca Clee eschewed the usual wooden leg from the knee down – with a strange bit sticking out behind like a tail that has lost it’s way – for a sort of bionic hydraulic affair which looked like it had been knocked up by JCB. It worked reasonably well and, as one who knows,
is much less tiring and painful than having a leg strapped up behind. Finally, we have the return of Andrew Rock, this
time as the mad as a hatter Ben Gunn, a seafarer with salt in his veins,
who, from his accent, must have been press ganged from some waterfront
dive on the dockside at . . . Dudley Port. His appearance to
rescue the captured Jim Hawkins leads up to the show’s big song and
dance cabaret number, I only have Eyes
for You, involving most of the cast
which, in truth, is all a bit cheesey – no really, it was cheesey,
mainly cheddar from the looks of it. Gunn, abandoned on Treasure Island
has been alone and fantasising about cheese for years – obviously he had
no internet connection if that is all he fantasised about as a bloke
alone, but we will let that pass The Dudley team have managed a flexible set which
changes quickly from pub, to lodging house to the good ship Hispaniola -
loved the rope and flag decked mast descending from the heavens – and
Mary O’Toole’s choreography is simple and effective while Ray Curran as
musical director . . . and complete band apart from some drumming on
stage . . . did a splendid job on the keyboard. It might not be panto as we know it, Jim lad,
although we did have a young girl in the audience called up to help out
at one point, Katy in this instance, who left with a huge gold coin,
with a suspicion of chocolate within, as her prize. But it was certainly fun, silly, at times
downright daft, and full to the gunnels with enthusiasm and its own
infectious charm. At the end you ventured out into the rain with a smile
on your face and, when it comes to the Panto season, which is how
Treasure Island should be judged, you can’t ask for more than that. To
05-12-15 Roger Clarke
02-12-15 |
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effort.
Hopefully a vile night of wind and rain was the cause for empty seats
and audiences, and weather, will improve as the week goes on.