Kidnapped (2023 play)

Photograph from the play, showing Alan and Davie sitting together at a dinner table smiling at each other; in the background are four sailors, who wear colourful anachronistic costumes and play musical instruments.

This page is all about the 2023 stage adaptation of Kidnapped, created by Isobel McArthur and Michael John McCarthy for the National Theatre of Scotland.

The play is not what might be called a literally faithful adaptation; but, though it doesn’t adhere to the letter of the book, the spirit of it is in my opinion absolutely faithful and perfect. It follows the basic shape of the book’s plot, but much of the dialogue is new and uses largely modern language; the general tone is thoroughly comic, there are lots of anachronistic details, and it makes various adjustments to the story and its presentation. And yet the silliness never overwhelms or obscures the real seriousness of the story, and the heart of the original book is absolutely present and joyfully conveyed.

Three features of the adaptation—none of them really changes from the book, but rather choices in its presentation—are especially worthy of note. Frances Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson’s wife and literary collaborator, appears as the play’s narrator, interpreting the story to the audience and relating it to her own life and her relationship with her husband. The play is full of music played and sung live by the cast, most of it late twentieth-century popular music of various genres (though it’s not a musical as such, the songs being used more to ornament scenes than to tell the story). Finally, the central relationship between Davie Balfour and Alan Breck Stewart is interpreted and presented as a romantic love story.

I love this play very much (in case you can’t tell) and have done so ever since seeing it in Edinburgh in April 2023. Since then I’ve done just a little bit of obsessive collecting of all the material I can find about it on the internet, and the results of those researches are gathered here: various background information, behind-the-scenes pieces, reviews, pictures, and details of the music.

In a big country, dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive...

General information and background

Behind the scenes, interviews, promotional material, etc.

Of the various bits and pieces I’ve collected, these are the ones I think give the most interesting and valuable information about the show, how the creators approached making it and what their thoughts about it are. Many beautiful things are said, by multiple parties, about Davie and Alan’s relationship, but that is far from the only detail of interest. :)

Music

Here is a playlist of (the originals of) songs appearing in the play, very kindly put together by M. The songs are:

Pictures!

Click on a picture to open it at full size in a new tab. Mouse over a picture for a caption.

Promotional, behind the scenes and rehearsal photos

Photos from the play itself

All photos are by Mihaela Bodlovic.

Reviews

Listed alphabetically by publication.

20 reviewers gave star ratings out of 5, with an average score of 4.13.

Production information

For now these details all refer to the original production by the National Theatre of Scotland which toured Scotland and England in March-May 2023, with information obtained from the pages linked above under ‘general information and background’. If there are ever any further productions, I’ll be sure to detail them here too. :)

Locations and dates

The play premiered at the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock on 28 March 2023, running until 1 April. It then toured to the Theatre Royal, Glasgow (5-8 April); the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh (11-22 April); Eden Court Theatre, Inverness (25-29 April); Perth Theatre (3-6 May); and Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne (9-13 May), before finishing its tour at the Theatre Royal, Brighton (18-20 May) as part of Brighton Festival.

Cast

Appearing in the play were:

Creative team