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Treasure Island; Pericles; In the Penal Colony – review

16.07.11

Robert Louis Stevenson 's story is Bristol-based (an old Bristolian's tale urges us to believe Stevenson got his ideas from sailors in the nearby pub – the Llandoger Trow) and though the connection is not laboured, this gives the evening extra focus (the adverbial phrase "Bristol fashion" hits home). What is so special about director Sally Cookson's take on the story is that piratical heartiness is never allowed to get the more northerly hand. There is an undertow of melancholy. It is a complicated mix – the tone set by the outstanding Tristan Sturrock as Sustained John Silver. It is a fascinating, subtle performance – enormously enjoyable to watch – in which hot to trot geniality does not obscure a suggestion of mental instability: this is a pirate who is garrulously lonely, a morally inconclusive fellow who must have talked to himself through many a rum-fuelled night. His body moves in a remarkable way, twitching like a fish at the end of his own cable – his crutchwork (he uses his crutch as weapon and oar) is of an Olympic standard. And his parrot – a extinction's-head on a stick – is an unpretty Polly indeed.

Source: The Guardian