Treasure Island

The original story of Treasure Island was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and tells of a young Jim Hawkins who finds a treasure map and goes on a dangerous sea-faring adventure to recover the buried treasure. Along the way he encounters a pirate, Long John Silver, who tries to befriend him, but with mutiny on his mind, Jim and his shipmates are in great danger. The original story is quite dark but Alan P Frayn has given this pantomime a definite comic edge. Whilst keeping some of the characters names from the original story he has quite cleverly changed and added others, thus enabling Jim to follow his quest to find the treasure and to outwit Long John Silver.

The pantomime opened, in front of a gauze, with an introduction by the Spirit of the Sea so beautifully attired and delivered by Kristen Dougherty and also making an appearance was Long John Silver. The gauze opened and we were in the inside of an Inn showing views of the outside and a cast of ‘thousands’ began singing ‘Master of the House’ with such eager enthusiasm, accompanied by a lovely dance. Jim was superbly played by Matthew Makin. He was definitely the hero of the story and had such a natural stage presence and his rapport with the audience was great as he encouraged us to shout out ‘Avast behind’ whenever his mother, Rosie, appeared. He was so self-assured and confident and his singing, especially of ‘A Sky Full Of Stars’, was just awesome. His Mother, Rosie Bloom and owner of the Inn, was wonderfully portrayed, as the ‘Dame’ character, by Peter Maddison. His outrageous outfits, wigs and make-up definitely matched his own very impressive delivery. Paul Holland was just terrific as Long John Silver managing to bring out the humour in the role as well as being exceptionally sinister and threatening and was so well deserving of the ‘boos’, from the audience, whenever he appeared. He didn’t have a ‘wooden peg-leg’ as such but the lower half of his right leg had the appearance of ‘wood’ and he hobbled about, some of the time using a crutch on which was perched his parrot. Daryl Dudey was quite majestic as The Squire portraying the character with a commanding presence and his daughter, Penny, was delightfully played by Leanne Barlow and her singing of ‘You and Me’ with Jim, was just super. Chris Nussey was top-notch as Billy Barnacle, an old sea-dog. His gruff cornish voice and his whole drunken demeanour were just perfect and when he was given the ‘black-spot’ well, the shock was just too much for him!!! Nicky Constable was just brilliant as Blind Ali he is such a natural comedian and his antics regarding his blindness were hilarious none more so than when he discovered that he had been wearing a patch over his good eye! His sidekick, Sea-Snake Sally, was splendidly played by Lyndsey Ashley and they certainly made a fine ‘comedy duo’ playing off one another so superbly. Wendy Blunt was authoritative as the no nonsense Captain Mullet and Donna Knowles was so funny as  Potty Patsy, Rosie’s cook, with an abundance of ‘food’ jokes being bantered about. There was not only Potty Patsy, but another quite wacky character, Barmy Beth who was outrageously portrayed by Tara Foster. She had a fetish about cheese and there were so many ’cheesey’ inspired jokes that were so ingeniously scripted and delivered both by herself, and others. Chloe Thomas, Cohan Wildgoose and Katie Watkins gave excellent support as Long John Silver’s three trainee pirates. There were 65 named members of the ensemble who played Cornish Villagers, Fishermen, Sailors and Pirates and each and every one of them was worthy of praise. They sang and acted with such enthusiasm as did the whole cast, and the imaginative choreographed dance routines were so perfectly delivered. There were many wonderful scenes some quite serious and moving whilst others were so hilarious. There was the inevitable ‘sing-a-long’ and the ‘he’s behind you’ scenario with supposedly the ghost of Captain Flint. The On the Shore scene, where ‘What’s His name’ was superbly sung, was first-rate and included super modern dance moves and a Rap from Blind Ali. There were two quite exceptional scenes, one being when Jim fabulously sang ‘A Sky Full of Stars’ which was firstly accompanied by the youngest cast members dancing a lovely routine with ‘glow-sticks’, later they were joined by the Spirit of the Seas and two dancers, all having very large magnificently lit ‘wings’ and their dance moves were so effective and then they were joined by some older cast members each having a with a ‘glow stick’. The atmospheric lighting totally enhanced the scene and there was even flickering coloured lights on the ceiling of the auditorium - the whole scene was just spectacular. The other, was an exceptional UV scene with associated pirate and sea-linked associations. The whole show was concluded with the scene ‘Back Home! and the exuberant, joyful and heart-warming singing of ‘All for One’. With such a huge cast to get on and off the small stage excellent use was made of the side entrances to the Hall with some actions being taken on the floor in front of it. The scenery, depicting various locations, was outstanding, being constructed in-house by Ken Radmore and Mick Whitehouse and beautifully painted by Andrew and Sabina Aucock. With the addition of excellent props, absolutely stunning costumes, together with excellent lighting and sound this proved to be a most enjoyable and praiseworthy production. 

Many, many congratulations to Directors Leanne Collins and Mick Whitehouse, to Musical Director and Choreographer Leanne Collins, to Group Musical Director and Keyboards Nigel Turner, to Light and Sound Director Philip Clark, to Stage Manager Mark North and his Stage Crew, to the numerous Backstage and Front of House helpers and of course to the superb principals and cast members and to everyone else involved. My sincere thanks for the very warm welcome that I always receive from this wonderful group of people.

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