Fyling Hall’s Year 6s have been watching the National Theatre’s performance of Treasure Island. They watched this week’s streamed version at the weekend to tie in with our class book, Kensuke’s Kingdom, by Michael Morpurgo. Ms Richardson then held a team chat about the play on Monday after tutor time, and their English assignment for that day was to write a review of Treasure Island. Have a read of Anya, Isabella’s and Dylan’s reviews!
The story is about a girl called Jim for short. Her real name is Jemima. She lives with her granny because her parents died in a storm. Her granny owns an inn where a man called Billy Bones goes to stay. He has a treasure chest, but it did not have any treasure, only a map. Jim, the doctor, and some of their friends went to find a crew. They chose their crew and set off on the adventure. However, there was a group of pirates that managed to get into the crew. When they made it to the island Jim met a man that had been there for three years who loved cheese. He was dumped there from a ship called the Walrus. The man’s name was Ben Gun and he drew the map. Ben Gun joins the crew and helps Jim and the crew to find the treasure. The pirates wanted the treasure, but Jim’s crew won.
The main character is called: Jemima
The story is called: Treasure Island
My rating is: 3 ½ stars
My favourite characters: Ben Gun, the doctor and Jim
I would recommend it to: 8 year olds and above
My favourite bit is: when Jim met Ben Gun
Costume rating: 4 star.
I would rate the stage set up: 5 star because it was very clever. The middle of the stage turns round and moves up and down so there is a boat and an inn and a tunnel.
Anya Legg
My review of the National Theatre production of Treasure Island by Isabella Watson
What I liked:
I liked that the characters were given funny lines which brought humour to the play. This made it very enjoyable throughout the whole performance.
There were many little things I felt worked well, but my favourite little bit was how the treasure chest had a false lid to hide the treasure map.
My favourite character:
My favourite character is Ben Gunn because he is very funny and really acted the part very well. He seemed like he really had gone mad from being deserted on an island for three years!
What I thought of the staging:
I really thought the costumes were well thought out for each character. The pirates looked like pirates!
The most impressive part of the staging was when the stage turned into an incredible ship with rope rigging and even cabins! It was very impressive how the stage moved and changed depending on the scene.
The story is about a girl called Jim who lived with her grandma; they were very poor. Jim got a treasure map from a pirate called Billy Bones before he died. They set off to find a crew for their ship, so they could go and find the treasure. They met Long John Silver and his pirate crew, and when they got to the island, Long John Silver captured everyone except for Jim, who stayed behind on the ship. Jim swam to the island, where she met Ben Gun. He had been stranded on the island for 3 years and told Jim about the tunnels under the island. Jim and Ben Gun worked together to defeat Long John Silver and his crew, so they took the treasure for themselves.
There were lots of things I liked about the play; here are my favourites.
I liked that Jim would narrate the story herself sometimes. The parrot looked so real and not like a robot, and I liked his voice. It was fun when the ship came up out of the ground and looked like the inside of a ship. I thought the actors were great and I really liked the costumes.
I really enjoyed the play, but it was quite long. I would recommend it to children aged 8 or over if they want a good adventure story.
Reviewed by Dylan Greenwood