Cineplex has teamed up with Britain’s National Theatre to bring the best of British theatre live from the London stage to cinemas throughout Canada, and on Feb.21st they will be showing an encore performance of Treasure Island. I’ve been sneaking a peek at trailers on YouTube and I’m pretty excited about this one. To start with this is Treasure Island with one interesting twist, in this version the young hero of the story, Jim, is a girl.
It’s a dark, stormy night. The stars are out. Jim, the inn-keeper’s granddaughter, opens the door to a terrifying stranger. At the old sailor’s feet sits a huge sea-chest, full of secrets. Jim – short for Jemima – invites him in, and her dangerous voyage begins.
I almost think it’s the little touches like adding women to the pirate crew, that mean more then the broad stroke of swapping Jim’s gender. As a mom who is raising daughters, fierce, brave, pirate crazy daughters, I’m pretty excited to be able to bring my girl to see a version of Treasure Island that she’ll be more readily able to identify with.
From the clips I’ve seen the stage sets for Treasure Island are jaw-dropping, something I’m definitely looking forward to seeing up close on the Cineplex big screen. Also my geeky little heart likes the fact that Long John Silver is being played by Arthur Darvill, the fellow that played Rory Williams through two seasons of Dr Who.
The encore performance of Treasure Island is showing on Feb.21st at select Cineplex theatres (check out the Cineplex website for a list of participating theatres).
What do you think? Are you ready to sail the high seas with Jim? How do you feel about them swapping our hero’s gender? Are you going to take your kids to see this one?
EDIT: The giveaway attached to this post has closed. Debbie W. of Hamilton, ON was the lucky winner of a set of passes to see Treasure Island at Cineplex.
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