The NTS play 'Kidnapped'
Oct. 2nd, 2023 10:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaLast night I watched the National Theatre of Scotland play Kidnapped together with some other fans, which was lovely! I am not as starry-eyed as regshoe about the play, but I did enjoy it.
Things I enjoyed:
- Davie and Alan were great! Davie as slightly lost and new to everything, but still stubbornly himself; and Alan as swashbuckling adventurer, vain as a peacock, but generous and loyal to Davie. Alan's blue coat was great! They got a lot of the relationship moments right, too: Davie's wide-eyed fascination at Alan's entrance, the 'Come to my arms!' moment after the fight in the roundhouse, the arguments and making up. And of course we got two lovely kisses, which are not in canon! Obviously this point is key--getting Alan and Davie right is the heart of it.
- I thought the introduction of Frances, the widow of Robert Louis Stevenson, was great! She occasionally stole the show with her narration and her asides and her songs. Of course the original canon barely has women in it, so it's a great opportunity to introduce the woman who was part of writing it.
- I liked the plot twist they introduced with Davie pretending to betray Alan in order to save him. Very tropey!
- I liked the songs and the musical part of it.
Things I enjoyed less:
- I do wish Alan hadn't had a moustache. I am a hard sell on moustaches, and while I know the play was cheerfully anachronistic and I was happy to go along with that in general, it's just wrong for the 18th century. Yes, the moustache is where I draw the line, not at the mention of wifi!
- The arguments that Davie and Alan have in the book are just better arguments than the ones in the play. Why would you give up Alan's 'I cannae!', or the back-and-forth about morality as they're running away from the redcoats after Glenure's murder?
- I was not much into some of the comedy stuff. For example, the comedy interlude with the crew of the ship seemed pointless to me, and I would much have preferred to use that time to include stuff from the book that was skipped. Also, the back-and-forth of the actor's lines is just so fast sometimes--I can usually hear what they're saying, but I'd prefer some more time to digest it. Of course, I don't watch plays a lot, so maybe I'm just unused to the style.
- Some parts of the plot struck me as difficult to understand (or would have been if one didn't know the plot), such as the role of David's uncle Ebenezer, which doesn't come across clearly to me, since it's obscured by comedy stuff.
regshoe about the play, but I did enjoy it. Things I enjoyed:
- Davie and Alan were great! Davie as slightly lost and new to everything, but still stubbornly himself; and Alan as swashbuckling adventurer, vain as a peacock, but generous and loyal to Davie. Alan's blue coat was great! They got a lot of the relationship moments right, too: Davie's wide-eyed fascination at Alan's entrance, the 'Come to my arms!' moment after the fight in the roundhouse, the arguments and making up. And of course we got two lovely kisses, which are not in canon! Obviously this point is key--getting Alan and Davie right is the heart of it.
- I thought the introduction of Frances, the widow of Robert Louis Stevenson, was great! She occasionally stole the show with her narration and her asides and her songs. Of course the original canon barely has women in it, so it's a great opportunity to introduce the woman who was part of writing it.
- I liked the plot twist they introduced with Davie pretending to betray Alan in order to save him. Very tropey!
- I liked the songs and the musical part of it.
Things I enjoyed less:
- I do wish Alan hadn't had a moustache. I am a hard sell on moustaches, and while I know the play was cheerfully anachronistic and I was happy to go along with that in general, it's just wrong for the 18th century. Yes, the moustache is where I draw the line, not at the mention of wifi!
- The arguments that Davie and Alan have in the book are just better arguments than the ones in the play. Why would you give up Alan's 'I cannae!', or the back-and-forth about morality as they're running away from the redcoats after Glenure's murder?
- I was not much into some of the comedy stuff. For example, the comedy interlude with the crew of the ship seemed pointless to me, and I would much have preferred to use that time to include stuff from the book that was skipped. Also, the back-and-forth of the actor's lines is just so fast sometimes--I can usually hear what they're saying, but I'd prefer some more time to digest it. Of course, I don't watch plays a lot, so maybe I'm just unused to the style.
- Some parts of the plot struck me as difficult to understand (or would have been if one didn't know the plot), such as the role of David's uncle Ebenezer, which doesn't come across clearly to me, since it's obscured by comedy stuff.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-02 04:48 pm (UTC)You have given me a new fic idea :)
Davie and Alan are so great, aren't they... and those kisses... *sighs happily* Also totally agree about Frances.
I agree about the canon arguments... perhaps some of the detail of eighteenth-century morality and honour wouldn't have worked so well in what's a more modern interpretation of the story, but I do love them in their historical setting. Although the changes they made to the Lettermore sequence allowed for the bit where Davie thinks Alan is dead and is then thrilled to see him alive after all, which was another excellent bit of added tropeyness :D
One of the behind-the-scenes videos talks about the idea behind the sailors, that they're the first part of the expansion of Davie's world as he sets out from Essendean and realises how many different kinds of people there are in Scotland and the world, and their larger-than-life weird comic characters were a way of expressing that idea colourfully. I like that, and they've grown on me themselves anyway.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-02 05:22 pm (UTC)Although the changes they made to the Lettermore sequence allowed for the bit where Davie thinks Alan is dead and is then thrilled to see him alive after all, which was another excellent bit of added tropeyness :D
True, that was a lovely hug!
I just noticed your comment in another post that Alan has a West Highland accent, I should go back and check it out. Also, I'll take a look at those behind-the-scenes videos.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-03 05:22 pm (UTC):D
I hope you enjoy the behind-the-scenes videos! And I really like Alan's accent, and support rewatching for that or any other reasons :)
This sounds fascinating
Date: 2023-10-02 06:43 pm (UTC)....is there somewhere that the video might fall off the back of the internet?
In his last year, my father went deep into his childhood books, including RLS.
Re: This sounds fascinating
Date: 2023-10-02 07:47 pm (UTC)Are you fond of the book, like your father was, or do you want to watch it in memory of him?
Re: This sounds fascinating
Date: 2023-10-02 09:27 pm (UTC)I've never read it! I'm curious as to the appeal.
My father was an indoorsman, with four books and at least five journal articles on the go. Youngest son of Ukrainian Jews, he attempted commutative assimilation by encouraging me to read RLS, Walter Scott, Arthur Ransome. I veered towards George Fraser, Enid Blyton, E Nesbit, Isaac Asimov, Heinlein and -- crucially -- Joanna Russ in 6th grade.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-03 03:09 pm (UTC)It was a great watchalong, and thank-you for setting it up!
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-03 04:57 pm (UTC)I'm glad you could join us! : )
(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-06 06:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-10-06 07:39 pm (UTC)(My exception is Jude Law as John Watson; his mustache really does suit him wonderfully well.)