DramSoc: Treasure Island

To err is to be human; to aargh is to be a pirate. —Benet Horan

There are two points on the acting that must be mentioned: Jim Hawkins’ childish excitability and the griminess of the pirate crew. First, of all the great acting in the show, Jim stood out with the bouncy naïveté of a 12-year-old. In the inn where it all begins, tremulous anxiety is palpable in her narration. There is hopelessness about the filthy inn that she must keep afloat, tinged with the fear of the one-legged pirate that haunts her dreams. Yet she cannot contain her curiosity and opens the chest kept by a squatting drunkard sailor, finding a (hold your breath!) treasure map. Throughout the play she has the unexpected resilience of a child who cannot change the tides of her life, but can find in it friends and hope.

What is not, by any means, to be overshadowed by Jim is the outstanding performance by the pirate crew. Each occupies a niche and has their own way of being a snarly blaggard, from the explosive Joan the Goat to the bumbling Israel Hands who tries to walk in two directions at once. Then there is, of course, Long John Silver. His insane obsession with the treasure slowly infects the rest of the pirates, causing what feels like a mass fever dream when they are searching in the cave. 

As for the storytelling, there were some parts I found to be slightly too long, such as the time spent in the inn at the beginning and the traipsing around the island, however, they were important for the plot. 

My fried brain would likely have been assuaged by some change in the props or mood-building music. I hope the crew will not mind my using Wetherspoons as a reference when I say I could feel the stickiness of the tables at the inn. The pirates, always prowling and lurking, added to the overall griminess of the show. 

My favourite scenes were during the sail to the island. Released from their various sorts of stupor in life on land, each character starts to show their true colours. The crew that so happens to have been procured for a treasure hunt are not the perfect sailors, as previously thought by the squire. Jim Hawkins is free from the inn and bouncier than ever. After devouring the soup in a homesickness-driven hunger, as also seen in Spirited Away with the onigiri, friendship blooms between Jim and Long John. In the precarious moments between land and treasure, Jim is giddy at the sea, and all the renamed constellations are shining in her eyes. The mutiny by Long John and the pirates feels like a slap back to reality, like a sudden jolt on a boat. Friendships shatter and only greed and survival remain. 

As mentioned above, the hunt for treasure on the island and especially in the cave feels like a delirious dream. There is much madness;  the long-abandoned Ben Gunn is scuttling around in tunnels, the volatile pirates led by Long John share his insane obsession, and everybody is thirsty. The nervous gasps of Jim and the rasps of Long John mingle on the stage.

Overall, the play had a great production in that it mixed the silly moments with bursts of tension. One second the oversized parrot could be squawking, and a gunshot might sound the next. Although the scene in which Jim is tempting the drunken sailor with more glug is comical, you cannot but feel for the pathetic desperation of the sailor, begging on the dirty floor. I was charmed by the acting of not only Jim and the pirates, but also the squeaky squire and the protective doctor. Of course, I cannot end this review without mentioning Grey. I forgot what he had done, but he certainly had the audience cracking up.