WE DIDN'T MEAN TO GO TO SEA. To 2 August.
Midlands.
WE DIDN’T MEAN TO GO TO SEA
by Arthur Ransome adapted by Nick Wood.
Eastern Angles Tour to 2 August 2008.
Runs 2hr 25min One interval.
TICKETS: 01473 211498 (Mon-Fri 10am-2pm).
www.easternangles.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 13 July at Shotley Village Hall.
Children messing about on the river end up all-at-sea, in high-tide Angles event.
It’s a good thing the four young siblings in this adaptation of Arthur Ransome’s 1937 Suffolk-set novel spend their time on the water. For they’d carry no street cred today. Polite, lively-minded and ultimately decent as could be, they offer a 1930s middle-class dream, the best character traits in a world redolent of nannies, nurseries and an assured income.
Still, given Nick Wood’s taut adaptation and the sterling – no, gold-standard – performances, why not dream on? Each actor plays, equally well, a second character, often of different sex. Ivan Cutting’s detailed sympathetic production – just look at the precise movement from the first, calm row-boat on – clarifies the quartet as a microcosm of social values
There’s the responsible older pair: John, growing into a conscientious leader, inspired during his sleep-deprived watch by visions of his father before finding him actually there, validating the long struggle.
And Susan, feeding, caring, showing just sufficient independence as the practical homemaker even on the tiny Goblin that’s upped-anchor and drifted them to sea while its owner was ashore and as the fog, of course, descended.
While this older pair steer their way through this fog of life with determination and good sense, the younger two, pipe-playing Roger and literary Titty (for Titania it’s explained, before Wood buries the unfortunate diminutive), represent the imagination and playfulness permissible within the bounds of underlying social responsibility.
All four actors are impeccably unforced, while creating a vivid sense of river, sea, fog and storm, the tension of danger and the exhaustion of endurance on the confined structure by which designer Rosie Alabaster artfully suggests the small boat. They descend to a (non-existent) below-deck, climb the mast, operate sails and rudder, always perfectly visible to audience-members along opposite sides of the traverse stage. It’s easy to overlook Cutting’s technical achievement amid the pace of the storytelling.
In adult terms, Ransome’s story may be more H M Tomlinson than Joseph Conrad. And the chunks of symphonic Shostakovich have an ironic weight at odds with the adventure’s tone. But the stormy videos heighten key moments, increasing the impact of this splendidly vivid entertainment.
Roger/Jim: David Ashwood.
Titty/Pilot: Sarah Hunt.
Susan/Father: Laura Stevely.
John/Mother: Duncan Barrett.
Director: Ivan Cutting.
Designer: Rosie Alabaster.
Lighting: Penny Griffin.
Sound: Stuart Brindle.
Animation: Paschal McGuire.
Audio-visual: Steve Cooney, John Jones.
2008-07-17 01:02:41