Prime Stage takes to the high seas with 'Treasure Island'

Friday, October 11, 2002
By Anna Rosenstein

Sometimes it's best to give the audience exactly what they expect. A stage adaptation of "Treasure Island" has to live up to the swashbuckling fun of Robert Louis Stevenson's 19th-century tale of mutiny and valor on the high seas.

Prime Stage and director Wayne Brinda deliver with a highly atmospheric production replete with hazy fog, crashing waves and creaking ship timbers (sound design by Keith Caggiano). Paula Dworek's set features soaring ropes that the sailors can energetically heave and climb, making the ship scenes come realistically to life with abundant activity. The only downside is that they remain in place (necessarily) through the entire show, so it may be confusing, especially for kids, to distinguish the non-ship scenes.

The designers, though, are good at giving clues to indicate when the pirates and sailors disembark. Act 2, in particular, evinces the island with tropical yellow and orange light and the special effect of palm trees across the upstage scrim, courtesy of lighting designer Gary Smith.

The pirates, happily, are a ragtag mix of boisterous derelicts. The first we meet is the gruff and hard-drinking Bill Bones, played by Adrian Aric Angelo with a crusty baritone and lunging gait. Bill holds the treasure map until an overfondness for rum separates him from any claim on worldly goods.

The map falls to the young Jim Hawkins (Nicholas Coppula), who embarks on the treasure quest with Dr. Livesey (Scott Van de Mark), Squire Trelawney (Chuck Gerste) and their not-so-faithful crew.

The treasure-hungry pirates are led, of course, by Long John Silver, played with an appealing mix of charm and wickedness by Robert Wood. Wood's Silver is funny, handsome, smart, even honorable in his own way, and he ultimately overshadows his more principled shipmates.

Van de Mark and Gerste don't have nearly as thrilling roles to sink their teeth into, though Gerste could liven up the egotistical squire with a little more humor, I think, just by making broader choices. Van de Mark plays the good-guy doctor with quiet dignity and strength.

Coppula's Jim is the one character who might give Long John Silver a run for his money. As a young actor, he doesn't have the experience of Wood and, not surprisingly, doesn't command the same stage presence. Coppula does, however, bring a nice innocence to his performance, a boyishness just ready to tumble over the edge of manhood. Perhaps it was only opening night jitters that kept him from infusing the role with all the awe and excitement called for by such a marvelous adventure.

There's other excitement to be had, though, from the dramatic swordfights, choreographed by Shaun Rolly and the bright presence of Buka, Silver's parrot, who appears courtesy of the National Aviary. Plus, there are enough twists and close calls to satisfy even the most voracious armchair explorer, which is treasure enough for me.