Treasure Island

Chardstock Amateur Dramatic Society – Treasure Island 

Date Friday 1st March 2024 

Society Chardstock Amateur Dramatic Society 

Venue Chardstock Village Hall 

Type of production Pantomime 

Author Julie Kibby- Councillor 

This production had great use of stage and also the auditorium. We started in  the Admiral Benbow pub with a great rendition of “what shall we do with a  drunken sailor?” Lots of youngsters taking part, which is great to see. We met  Jim Hawkins who was played very well throughout. Shelley Hawkins was tall  with various wigs and fabulous outfits. She had many costume changes during  the performance and these were vibrant. Shelley was played well. Billy Bones was a good character and his death scene was very funny. Black Dog was  sufficiently nasty and Blind Peugh was believable as a sightless character. Jim  and Shelley sang “Another one bites the dust”. This had great choreography. 

Whilst the scenery changes were taking place, the cast performed at the front  of the stage, in front of a black curtain, with brightly coloured spots. This  enabled them to keep the story flowing. 

Next, we met Dr Livesey and Trelawney. These were great characters with  good costumes and plenty of corny jokes. 

Onto the Hispaniola ship, where we met Captain Smollett and his sailors. The  ship scenery was effective. Long John Silver was a suitably villainous character.  His wooden/false leg was cleverly created and had some ingenious  amendments and attachments as the story progressed. Flint his parrot wore a  clever costume and had some funny quips. The audience loved “In the navy”  song and it was great to have the sailors and cast coming through the  auditorium. 

Bobbie the Bosun joined Jim for a beautiful rendition of “Make you feel my  love”. Both have stunning voices and Bobbie spoke with great clarity  throughout the performance.

In act two, we started with a sea shanty. It was great to see all the youngsters  involved. I did notice that at one time, there was no one at the ships wheel. So  perhaps bear this in mind for future productions. 

The “Tide is high” performed by Shelley, Captain, Dr Livesey and Trelawney  was cleverly choreographed with them tied to barrels. 

We then had a lovely UV scene with “Under the Sea”. The UV puppets looked  fabulous. I do love a UV scene. 

Onto the island and we met Ben Gunn, who was a brilliant character and was  played excellently. The skeletons looked great in their part of “A sailor went to  sea, sea, sea.” 

We were entertained with some lovely songs. This show had a small cast and it  was great to see the younger performers on stage. We finished with “going to  Ibiza”. The audience were delighted with the performance and showed great  enthusiasm. The costumes were fabulous throughout. The scenery looked  good and the scenery changes flowed smoothly. I was impressed with the  sound/musical production. The levels were just right and we could hear the  voices of the singers at all times. The performance flowed well at good pace  and kept the audience’s attention throughout. 

Well done to all the cast and crew for a lovely performance. I hope you will  find these notes useful for future productions. Thank you so much for inviting  me and I look forward to your next performance.

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.