The Bristol Old Vic, December 2010 to January 2011
.An Arthur Ransome Trust “Voyages of Discovery” Display
This is a review of our display at the Bristol Old Vic, held from December 1, 2010 to January 15, 2011.
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“An outstanding display – vivid and informative – and inspiring”
“Great display and great information. Good luck with the Trust.”
“Very informative and insightful display.”
The Trust’s first Voyages of Discovery mobile exhibition took place courtesy of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre, running alongside their production of Swallows and Amazons between December 1, 2010 and January 15, 2011. The Old Vic production was adapted from Arthur Ransome’s book by Helen Edmundson, with lyrics by Neil Hannon. It was directed by Tom Morris. The play received enthusiastic responses from both critics and audiences, selling out towards the end of its run.
We are very grateful to all involved at the Bristol Old Vic for their enthusiastic help and support in allowing us to stage Voyages of Discovery at the theatre. Our Comments Book received responses about both the Trust’s display and the Musical, including:
“Thanks for keeping it ALIVE and WELL for today’s children…”
“Thanks. We loved it. As crew of a boat called Swallow it made us want to go to sea again soon.”
“I loved the show. It was amazing!!”
“The best play I’ve ever seen! Fantastic.”
“Just like the book! Fantastic and cleverly done and imaginative.”
“Brilliant – and one day, perhaps, the fantastic life of Arthur Ransome will be dramatised!”
“Having become involved by being asked to provide the smoker for the charcoal burners I have consequently read Swallows and Amazons for the first time – thank you for returning me to child hood!”
“Very informative display – had no idea he had such an eventful life.”
You can read these and other comments via the thumbnails below. May we just take this opportunity to thank everyone for their comments and helpful feedback, which we will bear in mind when preparing future displays.
In respect to specific feedback and information:
“Excellent information. AR owned the SLUG (in Latvia) before Racundra – but it was a very poor performer – very slow. Thanks for all you have done here. Very welcome.”
This is true: Ransome owned two small boats in Latvia before he commissioned Racundra. Ransome described Slug as a “long, shallow boat with a cut-off transom that had once carried an outboard motor”. She was an open boat. In 1921 Ransome relplaced her with Kittiwake, which he described as “a bit of a joke really”. She had a cabin, but was only sixteen feet long overall. Neither boat could really be described as a yacht, of which Ransome eventually owned six: Racundra, Nancy Blackett, Selina King, Peter Duck and two Lottie Blossoms (the first was renamed Ragged Robin III when Ransome sold her).
“Over complex display – albeit interesting. Larger pix and fewer words needed.”
Many thanks for this helpful feedback. It’s true that a couple of the display panels had a little more text than we’d originally envisaged. However, there’s a limit how far we could reduce the amount of information without making the display meaningless. Sadly the space available for large images is also limited in a mobile display. Hopefully we’ll be able to correct that in more permanent exhibitions!
“Terrific to have a display here – much appreciated by TARS member 181! Informative – although I have reservations about the timeline. S&A forever.”
Many thanks for the comments. We’re not quite sure what your reservations are regarding the timeline. So please do feel free to let us know via our Contact page email if you read this and want to clarify.
