Treasure Island
Information
- Date
- 29th December 2024
- Society
- The Southwick Players
- Venue
- The Barn Theatre
- Type of Production
- Pantomime
- Directors
- Sally Diver & Sam Clements
- Musical Director
- Ella Turk-Thompson
- Choreographer
- Su Galleymore
- Written By
- Robert Louis Stevenson & adapted by Ben Crocker
I am sure that Robert Louis Stevenson would be delighted to know that more than one hundred and forty years after his novel was first published, the important parts of the plot and the main characters are still going strong in a popular genre of theatre around this time of year. Also, the recent rise in popularity of sea shanties - especially by Wellerman - makes this an excellent choice of pantomime for 2024. The complicated plot of love, intrigue, double-crossing and murder, and good triumphing over evil was portrayed well
The Dame (Roy Stevens) in this production is the mother of Jim Hawkins (Lou Yeo). Jim instantly falls in love with Jenny Trelawney (Becky Pearson), the daughter of Squire Trelawney (Frank Horsley), to whom is owed money by the Hawkins family, the father having just died. These characters worked together well - the younger ones as sweethearts and the older pair as a comedy pair.
As the family go forth to make their fortune from a treasure map, the pirate fraternity led by Long John Silver (Eden West) also have sights on the valuables with murder for a sideline on any other seekers. Seadog Sam (Giles Newlyn-Bowmer), Seaweed Willy (Sharon Churchill) and three more undesirable seamen were instrumental in this task. A partly reformed pirate Billy Bones and Ben Gunn were two cameo parts played magnificently by East McBride.
Another group of people helping Jim and putting their lives in danger were the ladies of the Women’s Institute. Leader Mrs. Henderson (Lea Spells) and her six associates were instrumental in helping save the day.
There were a good number of children in the cast and the singing and choreography were well executed. Singing to backing tracks is not always easy but this group coped very well with it. The choice of music was varied including the aforementioned sea shanties and some more modern upbeat tunes.
Changes of scene were extremely cleverly managed by the use of projections to the back of the stage and minimal items of scenery requiring to be moved. The projections were impressive and The technical crew need to be acknowledged for their expertise and also the sound quality throughout.
I close with a big mention to the wardrobe department who did a sterling task with the many types of costumes for a production like this. In fact, congratulations to all sections involved in this show, on stage, backstage and production team.
© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.