Sam Carter in The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair At Curve Leicester. Picture: Robert Day
The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair was reviewed at Leicester’s Curve Theatre (Studio Space).
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
Lara Williamson’s 2015 children’s novel The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair told the seemingly simple story of 11-year-old Becket who tries to solve a mystery with his brother Billy about why their dad is acting strangely and progressed into an exploration of grief, loss and family. Becket’s quirky view of the world and tendency toward fantasy felt ripe for theatrical adaptation, the results of which have been playing at Leicester’s Curve studio space this week, performed by the National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT).
Becket (played by Sam Carter) and his brother Billy (James Breen) are unexpectedly bundled into the car one night by their Dad (Oliver Futcher) and told that they’re escaping and never coming back, leaving everything behind, including Dad’s new girlfriend Pearl (Lily Copland-Jones). Lovers of mysteries, Becket and Billy take it upon themselves to work out what their Dad is up to and why he’s brought them here in secret. The mission takes them into the lives of their schoolfriends, their Ibiza-dwelling Nan (Alex Absalom-Sanchez), hairdressing neighbour Cat (Olivia Spillane), imaginary snail Brian (Bill Stanley), and ultimately out to sea, where another mystery lies in the form of their mother (Charley Lawrensen).
Williamson’s story should work on stage, with both a strong sense of character and the element of dreamlike fantasy, and much of that translates in this production, directed by Hannah Chissick. A lot of heart has clearly gone into it, and the show certainly looks great thanks to Richard Cooper’s set design with an impressive oversized armchair being a striking visual motif that runs throughout the show and gives plenty of opportunity for creative entrances and exits. Dance numbers are staged and choreographed well (Steve Kirkham), and some lovely visuals are created with an inventive use of props. The production has pacing issues which it needs to somehow rectify (Act I alone runs at 90 minutes), and it feels it could be significantly tightened up to give it a better flow. The fantastical elements are dealt with competently, although the show could lean more into that, appearing instead that it feels more assured in its real-world setting.
The show’s book, music and lyrics are all by first-time composer Jordan Li-Smith, and this forms part of its biggest problem. Having one mind steering the whole creative journey has led to a lack of a clear focus, and of knowing what to trim down or cut completely which would’ve given a more streamlined and effective show. In his desire to turn the story into a musical, Li-Smith has ended up composing enough for several but unfortunately decided to include them all into this show, overfilling it to the point of saturation.
The score counts 41 songs and reprises, and even fans of musicals will find this far too many, each song relentlessly following the previous one until it feels neverending. This would be less of a problem if each song was a knockout, but most aren’t, being unmemorable and lacking identity. Li-Smith seems to feel that every thought, action and motivation of the characters requires its own song, but most do little to advance the plot enough to merit their inclusion.
Williamson’s story is actually often hampered by the inclusion of so many songs, her magical delicate tale continually stalled and usually overpowered by “yet another song”. The project is clearly deeply personal to Li-Smith, stemming from his own experiences of losing his father at a young age, and while the writing of new musicals is a fantastic thing, this is, unfortunately, a case where less would’ve been more, however wonderful the intention or the skill with which the music is played (by the orchestra of 17 young musicians under the direction of Lewis Bell).
It must be said that the cast does a terrific job of delivering such a large amount of material, particularly Carter, appearing in most of the show and having masses of dialogue and lyrics to learn. He’s definitely a talent to keep an eye on for the future, as is Breen as Billy, who has incredible comic timing for an 11-year-old. If someone could cast the two of them in Oliver! right now, they’d do an amazing job (Breen will be the Artful Dodger one day, you read it here first). Spillane also does brilliantly as Cat, appearing a very natural actress with a great voice as well. Other standouts are Absalom-Sanchez) as Ibiza Nana, Isabelle Larrey as Neveah, and Stanley as Brian The Snail, but it’s a terrific collective effort by the whole cast.
There is too much good in The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair for it to sink without a trace, largely down to its talented young cast, but it needs a stronger directional wind to better serve the narrative, rather than having it drown in its music.
Rob Bartley