Treasure Island − Learning Guide About This Guide ..............................................................1 Background Information ..................................................2 Teaching Information ........................................................4 Production Notes Key Design Elements ................................................6 Performance Style ...................................................13 Key Moments ...........................................................14 Adaptation Details & Plot Synopsis................................15 Find Out More ..................................................................21 1 Treasure Island − Learning G uide About This learning guide supports the National Theatre’s production of Treasure Island, directed by Polly Findlay, which opened on 11th December 2014 at the National’s Olivier Theatre in London. Our packs are designed to support viewing the recording on the National Theatre Collection. This pack provides links to the UK school curriculum and other productions in the Collection. It also has a plot synopsis with timecodes to allow you to jump to specific sections of the play. Here you’ll also find all the information you need to enable you to study the production and write about it in detail. This includes notes about all of the key elements from performance style to design. You’ll also find pointers for further research. 1 Treasure Island − Learning Guide Background Information Recording Date – 22nd January, 2015 Location – Olivier Theatre, National Theatre Age Recommendation – 9+ Cast Jim Hawkins....................................................Patsy Ferran Grandma ........................................................Gillian Hanna Bill Bones ..........................................................Aidan Kelly Dr Livesey .................................................Alexandra Maher Squire Trelawny/Voice of the Parrot........... Nick Fletcher Mrs Crossley ............................................. Alexandra Maher Red Ruth ...................................................... Heather Dutton Job Anderson ....................................................... Raj Bajaj Silent Sue ............................................................ Lena Kaur Black Dog ......................................................Daniel Coonan Blind Pew ......................................................... David Sterne Captain Smollett ............................................... Paul Dodds Long John Silver .............................................Arthur Darvill Lucky Mickey .................................... Jonathan Livingstone Joan the Goat ................................. Claire-Louise Cordwell Israel Hands ............................................. Angela de Castro Dick the Dandy ........................................... David Langham Killigrew the Kind ......................................... Alastair Parker George Badger ..................................................Oliver Birch Grey ................................................................. Tim Samuels Ben Gunn ..................................................... Joshua James Shanty Singer ............................................... Roger Wilson Parrot (Captain Flint) ..................................Ben Thompson 2 Treasure Island − Learning Guide Background Information Recording Date – 22nd January, 2015 Location – Olivier Theatre, National Theatre Age Recommendation – 9+ Creative Team Director ........................................................... Polly Findlay Adaptation ................................................... Bryony Lavery Designer ....................................................... Lizzie Clachan Lighting Designer .............................................. Bruno Poet Composer .......................................................... John Tams Creative Associate ................................... Carolina Valdés Fight Director .......................................................... Bret Yount Movement Director ........................................ Jack Murphy Music and Sound Designer .............................. Dan Jones Illusions ............................................................. Chris Fisher Comedy Consultant ...................................... Clive Mendus 3 Treasure Island − Learning Guide Teaching Information This production is particularly suitable for: • Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 students who are studying the original novel. • Anyone with an interest in the adaptation of novels for the stage. • Drama and theatre students studying Polly Findlay as a contemporary practitioner. • Production arts students with a particular interest in set design and automation. In particular you might like to explore: • The innovative staging of the production how the various locations from the novel come to life on the Olivier stage. • The decision to change the role of Jim to make the character female. • How the actors playing the pirates use voice and physical movement to create their characters. • How the music in the production, particularly the sea shanties, helps to create the world of the play and tell the story. There are a number of other productions in the National Theatre Collection that relate to this one, which you and your students may wish to explore alongside it. Other adaptations of novels for the stage Production Date Adaptation Director Peter Pan, Jane Eyre 2016 The Companies Sally Cookson Small Island 2019 Helen Edmundson Rufus Norris Frankenstein 2011 Nick Dear Danny Boyle 4 Treasure Island − Learning Guide Teaching Information Other productions featuring members of the same creative team Productions Artist Antigone Polly Findlay - Director Yerma Lizzie Clachan - Designer Julius Caesar, Frankenstein Bruno Poet - Lighting Designer Antigone Dan Jones - Sound Designer Antigone Bret Yount - Fight Director Other productions suitable for primary school students Production Date Writer / Adaptor Director The Winter's Tale 2018 William Shakespeare Justin Audibert Justin Audibert Peter Pan 2016 Sally Cookson and Sally Cookson The Company Romeo and Juliet 2017 William Shakespeare Bijan Sheibani Ben Power 5 Treasure Island − Learning Guide Production Notes The following notes have been compiled to help guide you through the significant design and performance aspects as you watch the production, or to remind you of them after you have watched it. You may also want to make your own notes and form your own opinions on the effectiveness of these aspects as you explore the production. Key Design Elements: Set There are a number of different locations in this play. The drum revolve helps to create these, and it is particularly helpful with transitions – part of the experience for the audience is watching a new set emerge. We are taken from what looks like a fairly bare stage, with wooden floorboards and with 9 vertical structures which look like the ribs of a large creature OR the skeleton structure of a ship (“the heart protected by the ribs” is a line on the back of the treasure map). Jim turns the winch in the centre of the stage to reveal the first location in the story. The use of the revolve also helps the sense of travel. When Blind Pew’s men search around the Admiral Benbow Inn, the revolve moves. As you would expect the design is based on wooden structures, including a wooden cart outside the Admiral Benbow Inn. Much of the furniture is also wooden. 6 Treasure Island − Learning Guide Production Notes The size and scale of the Olivier stage allows the use of spectacular sets to create: • The Admiral Benbow Inn: There are two levels, and a short connecting staircase. Bill Bones’s room is on the upper level. • Bristol: what was the roof of the inn becomes a shallow level on stage on which Long John Silver sits (as if on a kerb or a bench). Ropes and pulleys, and ensemble working around the set, shows the busy nature of the port. • The Hispaniola (ship): We see both the deck and smaller rooms within the ship. Set dressing includes brass pans, lanterns, rope ladders and webbing and ropes and this practicality is contrasted by Squire Tralawney’s room which has painted walls (turquoise) and a hammock. • The Island also has broken wooden planks, giving the impression of previous shipwrecks. Trapdoors in the revolve, covered with netting, allow Jim and Ben Gunn to dive into mud. Notice that there are various inflated domes (canvas) which appear to pulse and breathe, as if they are hot springs ready to erupt. • The tunnels: stalactites of various sizes, a metal ladder, and several holes in the sides of the tunnel from which Trelawney pretends to be the voice of Flint. • Note that the floor is also covered in what looks like wood or bark chippings and dirt – the set is richly textured and visually stimulating. The level of detail allows the audience to fully suspend their disbelief. 7 Treasure Island − Learning Guide Production Notes Key Design Elements: Costume The costume design uses an eclectic range of colour and fabric. Many of these characters are itinerant, poor or scavengers. • Grandma: pink and purple woolen ear muffs, apron, striped coloured shawl under which are visible black and white spotted sleeves of a blouse, mid calf skirt and brown shoes. • Jim: knitted hat, green trousers, beige and brown cardigan, -a dirty beige apron, her clothes are distressed, suggesting the poor nature of Jim and her grandma. She wears fingerless gloves. • Bill Bones: black leather waistcoat with a brown distressed singlet