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> WALK THE PLANK > 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA |
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20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA Reviewed by Michael Nunn Pass Notes No 20,000: A voyage to, er … * Jules Who? Jools Holland, Jules and Sandy, or … No, this is a nineteenth-century Frenchman who wrote … Gerraway, a Frenchie? Yes. They are quite good at the Arts; theatre, poetry, sex, music, cooking, philoso … Yeah, okay, but what sort of story is it? You've lost me. Tolkein? Is Gandalf in it? We are not in The Lord of the Rings now, and that was not Sir Ian McKellen (though he would make a good Captain Nemo). Okay, who's this Captain Nemo? The name translates from the Latin as ‘no-one' [Actually 'I am no-one' - ed]. Yes, thank you. He is the anti-hero. Auntie? What sort of a story is this? As I was saying, it is part maritime thriller (Herman Melville was a contemporary, and wrote Moby Dick before Verne found his true métier), and part uncanny prophecy (unlike Nostradamus, his predictions are easy to read and have generally happened). And part satire. He invented things, too. Eh?
No. What about the oppressed people, the awe and power of the sea, and who was that mysterious woman with a red mask on? Oh dear … No, that's not right, [and you've mysteriously swapped places - ed]. Listen. They go on a sea voyage in a submarine called The Nautilus, and have lots of adventures and fun and danger and try and escape and get wet and fight off fish and it all works out in the end …. Look, there's no point in all this … My head hurts! This is what really happened … Peter Grimes (there's a nautical name to conjure with!) took Jules Verne's 1870 novel, and pieced together a fascinating and off-the-wall piece of theatre which embraces many of the polymath original's themes: socialism, liberté, égalité et fraternité, adventure, destiny and – much in evidence here – fun. Walk The Plank (WTP), with their small resources (a tiny ex-ferry, a minuscule theatre-ette, four actors and minimal props), make a veritable feast of magic, comedy and travel out of next to nothing. If the nearest you have got to theatre on board ship is the in-cruise cinema or the ladies' or the gents at closing time on the booze cruise, you simply have not lived. Lolling slightly on the swell, with the odour of diesel in you nostrils and the salt on your glasses, with young laughter echoing across the covered-over ferry deck [what? – ed], this is one of the wackiest ways to enjoy drama.
Finally, despite attempts to escape from Captain Nemo's grip (was he rather fond of us after all we went through together?), we were back on dry land over two hours later. It is futile to attempt to narrate the journey. What I can tell you is that WTP create their own distinctive marque of entertainment with the skilful, tasteful and intelligent use of lighting, props (a number of them highly ingenious), mime, sound, music and graphic/cinematic images.
In other words, Monty Python meets Jacques Cousteau with Jacques Tati over a litre of absinthe in a slug of snorkelling, swashbuckling, submarinating surrealism that everyone needs now and again to help with those regular reality checks. So how did it all end? The kids laughed at it and loved it. No-one understood it. But it was great theatre. We now interrupt with: SOME MORE DIFFICULT BITS League: Jules Verne 1828 – 1905 Verne was a great influence on Herbert George Wells (1866 – 1946) MV Fitzcarraldo Have you finished? Yup. That's it, really. Do we get free kippers to take home? … Copyright © 23 August 2004 Michael Nunn |
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Okay,
let me try and get my head round it again. It's about the adventures
of one man's pursuit of, er …. No, it's three men,
the Professor (Monsieur Arronax, of the Museum of Paris), his Manservant
(Conseil – or 'advice'), and a crack [sic] Harpooner (Ned Land).
They are doing this pursuit … on a big boat. With President Lincoln.
It could be a spacecraft? An airport lounge? The USS Enterprise? 
The
voyage into the unknown began rambunctiously on the quayside of The
Stone Jetty, with the three intrepid and rather drunk heroes of the
piece arguing and embarking for their pursuit of they knew not what.
As you do. Up the gangway, down into the hold, and we were off on a
magical journey with them, meeting strange people, seeing unearthly
sights and hearing sounds from on, within, below, beyond and above the
sea. 
Peter
Grimes' excellent text is a springboard for the antics and ad-libs
of the cast as they relate the epic, debate the politics and cavort
on the floor with murderous jellyfish and flirt with sexy oysters (I
think that's what they were …) The visual gags and zany
dialogue paid homage to the Marx Brothers, Marcel Marceau, Sir David
Attenborough and Red Dwarf. No plagiarism here, though, as WTP stamps
the die with its own, very clear imprint. The audience participation,
on the quay as well as during the show, was great fun, and Ned Land
dealt in an exemplary manner with a smartarsed, supercilious spoiled
brat at the performance we saw.
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