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Post by lightinthedarkness on Apr 10, 2023 10:55:15 GMT
Has anyone seen this yet? It's already played in Greenock + Glasgow and is currently on a Scottish (+Newcastle) tour. Looks to be selling well.
Written by Isobel McArthur, who wrote Pride and Prejudice (*Sort of), based on Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Upcoming dates:
11th April - 22nd April 2023. Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
25th - 29th April 2023. Eden Court Theatre, Inverness
3rd May - 6th May 2023. Perth Theatre, Perth
9th May - 13th May 2023. Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne
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1,107 posts
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Post by alicechallice on Apr 10, 2023 15:04:00 GMT
Has anyone seen this yet? It's already played in Greenock + Glasgow and is currently on a Scottish (+Newcastle) tour. Looks to be selling well. Written by Isobel McArthur, who wrote Pride and Prejudice (*Sort of), based on Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Upcoming dates: 11th April - 22nd April 2023. Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh 25th - 29th April 2023. Eden Court Theatre, Inverness 3rd May - 6th May 2023. Perth Theatre, Perth 9th May - 13th May 2023. Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne It's also playing Brighton Festival, 18-20 May. |
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Post by hadeswasking on Apr 10, 2023 15:05:10 GMT
I'm seeing it in a couple days. I've got high hopes after the Orphans tour.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 10, 2023 15:22:58 GMT
Isn't this based on Kidnapped rather than Treasure Island?
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Post by lightinthedarkness on Apr 10, 2023 16:34:04 GMT
Isn't this based on Kidnapped rather than Treasure Island? You’re right! Not sure how I mixed that up |
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Post by firefingers on Apr 10, 2023 18:54:29 GMT
Caught this last week and really enjoyed it.
It is a rather typical NTS style (a bit of a minimalist staging with a strong "cartoon" vibe), filled with charm. The cast is great, a lot of multi-rolling going on but every character feels succinct and fun. There are some changes to the plot, including quite a dramatic one that I won't spoil here, but they all worked well and did a great job of compressing a fairly meaty plot into two hours plus interval. A lot of Scottish humour too, so will be interesting to see how that goes down South of it they change things about.
It was also a signed performance with two signers integrated heavily into the performance, referenced, choreographed and even occasionally one would sign the lyrics whilst the other signed what was happening musically (at least that is how it looked). I had to check multiple times that it was definitely just for this one signed performance of the week and wasn't done every night, as it was so slick and well done I couldn't believe it.
The songs are all "pop" songs like Bob Dylan and Kenny Rodgers which was fine but an original score would have elevated it, and sometimes delivered without a great deal of reason for why they were singing bar some of the lyrics being roughly relevant to the situation. Similarly having the show semi-narrated and monologue asides by Mrs Robert Louis Stephenson didn't really add anything but maybe I was missing something.
That said, the ending scene was incredible, proper goosebumps stuff and a joy to be in the room for it. Glaswegians are always amongst the most vocal when reacting (gasps, laughs etc) so that was a great reaction.
I'd give it four stars, whack an original score with a bit more integration of those numbers and it'd be a five.
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Post by hadeswasking on Apr 12, 2023 16:34:06 GMT
Just saw this, some quick thoughts. Not thought out at all, just filling some time before I go into the cinema.
Going to use the dreaded word.
That was cute!
Negatives first -
Thought the majority of the music was unnecessary. The jokey "singing" was also quite frustrating to hear.
The humour for the majority of the middle-section just didn't land with most of the audience. There was quite a lot of jokes geared towards younger children, but then they start swearing. I'm not sure who this was for. They tried to appeal to both adults and children, but in my opinion failed.
The positives -
Thought the leads were great along with a lot of the ensemble. Multi-roling will always work for me!
I enjoyed the narrator character, she sometimes helped bring back some energy. This could've been quite the slog without her.
Loved the opening, opening of Act 2 and the ending a lot! When the humour works here... it works.
Overall I had an enjoyable matinee, glad I saw it at least. I agree with the thoughts above that this could've used a good original score. That or more music, you've got the talented actor-musos there. Use them well! In its current state its more of a play with a few songs, wish I had known this before going in.
Don't think this will work well at its English tour-stops. The humour is very Scottish and those accents are thick. As someone who's lived in Scotland all their life even I had trouble understanding them at times.
3 stars.
I wish it was more like National Theatre Scotlands previous musical, Orphans.
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