Treasure Island

“Treasure Island” - Murder, money and mutiny were all brought to the stage in this adaptation (by Phil Wilmott) from the classic by Robert Louise Stevenson. It's packed full of songs, fights and energy as the action moves from the quayside to on board the Hispanola as Jim Hawkins and co set sail to find the treasure. This was an evening of playful fun with piracy and intrigue as well as puppetry.

The sets were excellent, well painted and designed for maximum impact. There was minimum disruption (the only scene change taking place in the interval).  The props were brilliant, especially the treasure chest and treasure, barrels and weapons. 

All the costumes were of the highest quality; there was great attention to detail in ensuring each character was appropriately dressed. The ladies’ dresses being adapted to breeches when they left the quayside for the ship. A lot of thought had gone into the use of costume and hair to emphasise the personality of the characters. Long John Silver’s costume was particularly impressive.

The lighting was well controlled. The lighting and pyrotechnics for the arrival of the “ghost” was particularly imaginative and effective.  

This production was funny, witty and entertaining. There was great variety of characters:  Lady Trelawney bringing bad luck as the “captain” of the ship, Black Dog (animal or human?), Ben Gunn not to mention Long John Silver (Kevin Belcher deserves special praise for masterfully controlling his stump) and Amanda Albrecht for skilfully operating Captain Flint (the parrot puppet). Zoe Cole as Ben Gunn provided some slightly surreal moments but she was cheeky and charming in this role, especially singing a medley of Queen songs with a cheese theme including “We want Roquefort.”  The entire cast had great comic timing and kept the action going throughout the evening. Overall there were some assured performances from SP regulars. While there was no singalong, no dame and no audience friend, as such, we felt part of the action, especially during the tug of war which took place in the aisle. Silchester Players provided the audience (full house on first night) with an evening of laughs and a few gasps and was produced by Keith Graham and directed of Mari Fleming.  Another hit for Silchester!

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