Movie of the Week: National Theatre's Treasure Island (Live Broadcast.)

Last Thursday we went to the delightful Penistone Paramount to see the real-time live broadcast of the National Theatre's Treasure Island which turned out to have Arthur Darvill as Long John Silver and folkie, Roger Wilson, singing shanties and playing fiddle. But the star of the show was the girl who played Jim Hawkins. Yes Hawkins was a girl - Jemima Hawkins - played by Patsy Ferran. She carried the show effortlessly - and there were female pirates as well adding a touch of gender balance to a story written in the days when only men and boys had adventures.

The adaptation was excellent for family audiences without erasing the essential darkness of the original story. The stage set was spectacular with a surround of ribs, like the wreck of a wooden boat, a full lighting rig that created a planetarium sky, complex turntable and rising sections forming instant scenery. The inn (outdoors and in), the ship Hispaniola (complete with climbable rigging) and the desert island. You can see the set here: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/treasure-island.

These NT broadcasts are really the next best thing to seeing the show live (and a lot cheaper). We saw Frankensdtein last year with Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller. That was a re-run of the recording of the stage play. Treasure Island carried the frisson of knowing you were watching in real time. i guess they will repeat the showing now that they have it in the pot. I heartily recommend it.

This week (weather permitting) we're going to see Into the Woods.
I'm also looking forward to Ex Machina and Jupiter Ascending - but am deeply disappointed that Orange Wednesay twofers are coming to an end in late February.

Book Log 03/2015 - Joe Abercrombie: Half a King - Shattered Sea #1

Yarvi is a prince, but a younger son, so not expected to inherit, which is just as well because he was born with a deformed hand and can neither hold a shield nor scale a fortress wall. He's never going to be the man leading an army into battle. He's destined to be a minister and has almost completed his rigorous training when his father and older brother are killed and he's dragged into the limelight - and not to his advantage.

Betrayed by his uncle and surviving only by good fortune and his quick wits, Yarvi is sold into slavery, strapped to a galley oar where he seemingly will stay until he dies, but Yarvi is clever. He's only ever had his wits to rely on in a land where physical prowess counts for everything. And despite the hardscrabble world he's been thrust into Yarvi is essentially kind, though not weak. He's determined to survive and determined to get revenge on his uncle.

When eventually he gets his chance for freedom, he takes a bunch of shipmates with him on a gruelling journey back to his homeland. There's a surprise twist at the end which means Yarvi gets what he wants, but not in the way he expected to get it and not without consequences.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I see some reviewers have dubbed it Abercrombie-lite because compared to the author's earlier books this is nowhere near as grimdark, however they don't seem to have taken into account that it's written with young people in mind. The story is more simple, more accessible than the First Law Trilogy, but no poorer for all that. It's a coming of age story with a physically flawed protagonist that kept me hooked. In fact - I only intended to read a chapter but I couldn't put it down. I read the whole lot in one sitting without even coming up for air or coffee. That's a real page turner.