Treasure Island

Having produced and directed over 30 pantomimes for my own Stone Little Theatre company and several at Hanley’s magnificent Theatre Royal, I have staged most of the popular titles but never ‘Treasure Island’. So with my NODA hat on and my notebook in hand, I was very much looking forward to my visit to Audley Theatre to join them in their latest panto adventure on a journey across the high seas in search of hidden treasure, or as they’d billed it, ‘A shipload of panto gold for the whole family!’

And whilst this refreshingly new telling of the original story by Ben Crocker is still loosely based on the original novel by Robert Louis Stevenson first published in 1883, Audley Theatre’s exciting new production promised to include all the tried and tested panto ingredients we’ve come to love and expect at this time of year. And it certainly didn’t disappoint!

The theatre was buzzing with excitement even before the house lights dimmed and the curtains opened on ‘The Admiral Benbow’ and a glorious colourful bunch of seafaring folk all dressed in traditional stripey tops, red neckerchiefs, black breaches and tricorn hats for a wonderful opening chorus of the Tenpole Tudor classic ‘Swords of a Thousand Men’. I’ve never heard this song used in a pantomime before, but it was a clever and appropriate choice and got the show off to a sparkling start with some very lively and creative choreography.

It also set the scene perfectly for the entrance of Mrs Hawkins, pantomime dame extraordinaire and landlady of the Admiral Benbow, outrageously dressed in the first of an extensive wardrobe of magnificent costumes and hats we would be enjoying for the rest of the evening. As the dame, Martin Thomas was simply superb and made an instant impression with his quick wit, brilliant banter and hilarious ad-libbing, as he picked on several members of the audience and mentioned a few local place names all to the delight of everybody watching. His opening comedy dialogue with Kittie (Layla Harper) was also a great start to the story.

The arrival of the pompous Squire Trelawney, adeptly played by Anna Jones, to collect the outstanding rent that Mrs Hawkins hadn’t got added the next bit of fun and games to the plot. Our dastardly dame was well aware of the Squire’s weakness for ‘spotted dick’ – which only by mention got more than a few innocent giggles from the audience - and on the promise of tasting some of her latest batch, fresh from the oven, the Squire completely forgot about the rent and made a quick exit to Mrs H’s kitchen.

You can’t have a panto without a good helping of romance and that came next when, after only a couple of minutes on stage, it was love at first sight for the principal boy and girl with Olivia Wright as the Squire’s daughter, Jenny, and Max Cartwright as Jim Hawkins, Mrs H’s son, duetting with ‘I Think I Love You’ which was very well performed with great charm and feeling.

Hilariously pretending not to be pirates, the two panto stooges, Seadog Sam (Chloe Latham) and Seaweed Willy (Ginny Sturge), played terrific roles, initially making an absolute shambles of delivering the dreaded kiss-of-death ‘black spot’ to Billy Bones (Leon Dudau) and then failing miserably to steal the treasure map which after a hugely chaotic and riotous scene of pushing and shoving, ended up, much to her delight, in the hands of Mrs Hawkins.

As the lights went up on ‘Pirate’s Cove’, the infamous Long John Silver, Levi Rhodes-Mckenzie, made a menacing entrance with his very distinctive and exaggerated West Country accent and dropping his g’s perfectly. He was accompanied by his ill-disciplined group of cut-throat ne’er do wells including Blood Boiler (Laila Norcup), Gizzard Slitter (Gracie-Mae Kirkhaml) and ‘The Fridge’ (Megan Stubbs). Less-experienced actors are often used to fill smaller roles, especially in pantomimes, but all Long John’s sidekicks gave really good and consistent performances as did Julie McManus as Long John’s hilarious full-sized colourful parrot ‘Polly’ with her flapping wings.

Following a deliberately screechy front-of-tabs rendition of ‘Firework’ by the very capable Lynne Williamson as Mrs Henderson, the curtains opened to reveal the Smuggler’s Cove Women’s Institute in a new addition to this traditional tale which provided another opportunity for some great panto comedy including the disastrous judging of a cake baking competition and the ladies of the WI getting tipsy after swigging Dame H’s ultra special 144 per-cent home brewed rum! The arrival of Long John and his sidekicks dressed as women bent on stealing the treasure map from Mrs H added even more to the fun and games and ended up in a glorious slapstick routine which left the delighted audience shouting for ‘more’!

But now it was back to the plot as Jim and his mum, along with the Squire and Jenny, prepared to outwit the dastardly Long John Silver and his motley crew, which now included the WI ladies smartly dressed as pirates, as they prepared to set sail on the ‘Hispaniola’ from Bristol Docks for an adventurous voyage on the high seas in search of the hidden treasure. And with the ship in the background, the first half came to a fitting climax with a rousing rendition of the swashbuckling pirate song ‘Sailing for Adventure’ which was brilliantly sung and performed.

The rest, as they say, is history – if you count the original story, 144 years of it in fact!  A voyage across the high seas, shipwrecked on a desert island, an hilarious race to find where ‘X’ marked the spot on the map, a chance meeting with another castaway – Ben Gunn, skilfully played by Brian Hanmore - who knew the exact location of the treasure and how to recover it and, most importantly, a very happy ending.

The second part of the panto had been brimming with traditional panto fun but the scene in the Haunted Grotto at Deadman’s Cave was particularly hilarious as Mrs H, Jim, Jenny and the Squire entered through the audience covered with white sheets to scare off the ghosts and were then pipped off one by one by the sinister vision of Captain Bloodhheart himself giving the audience – apart from Mrs H of course who eventually pipped off the Captain - the opportunity to shout out “He’s behind you” and then after chasing the pirates off with water guns, the audience became the targets. I got absolutely soaked!

And what pantomime would be complete without a sing-along with the words of ‘When I Was 1 - The Pirate Song’ projected on the backcloth for us all to join in.

We had enjoyed a truly wonderful evening of traditional family entertainment. Apart from the principal characters, the supporting cast and ensemble, especially the youngsters, performed with great skill, energy and enthusiasm and were very clearly enjoying every minute of being on stage. The sets, the costumes, the lighting and sound were all of a very high standard and the brilliant video sequence projected on a screen at the back of the stage featuring the main characters desperately (and amusingly) swimming through the storm and being buffeted about in the waves before eventually ending up on dry land was sheer genius. This really was an exceptional piece of work and drew a deservedly huge round of applause from the audience.

But my final comments and probably the most important go to Director, Wendy Brough, for her skill and vision in turning Ben Crocker’s script into such a fabulous production, to Martin Thomas, as co-producer, to Anna Jones for the huge and fantastic range of costumes, to Carol Thomas for Dame Mrs Hawkin’s magnificent wardrobe and finally to Stage Manager Harry Brough for the smooth running of the stage and scene changes.

I must also make mention of the panto programme which had been very cleverly designed as a rolled-up parchment tied with a bow of gold ribbon. Very clever indeed!

Thank you for your warm welcome to Audley Theatre. I very much look forward to visiting you all again in the new year.

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