The Admirable Crichton is a comedic play by J. M. Barrie, who you may remember from Peter Pan. Although I've never really considered Peter Pan to be a children's play, I must say that this one is even less so. That's not to say that there is anything inappropriate in it, but the themes would be quite difficult for a child to grasp.
The show begins in the home of a peer of the realm. After forcing experiments in "equality" with the servants, the master, his three daughters, a handful of servants and a couple guests take a yachting trip which ends in their being stranded on an island. On the island, Nature is in charge. After two years and no hope of rescue, class roles are cast aside and new hierarchies have arisen, placing the butler, Crichton as the new master and the former upper class family as servants. When a rescue ship finally comes and they return to England, they are all forced to cope with the changes that took place on the island and decide which persona to maintain when back in "civilization".
There are a lot of script notes that are worth reading and would be missed if the only exposure to the play were a production thereof. While posting this blog, I've discovered that a movie version was made in 1957 under the title Paradise Lagoon. Well...technically it's been filmed twice. The original version was in 1918 and was obviously silent.
I would watch this play if it were being performed, but I don't think I'd bother reading the script twice.
Rating - 3
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