The producers have set out to create a worthy educational play aimed at the pre-teens market and staged in the Natural History Museum Jerwood Gallery to add to its authenticity and reinforce its serious intent. What they have delivered is a charming beautifully staged retelling of the young Charles Darwin five year voyage of discovery on board the HMS Beagle in 1831 in which he finds his purpose in life . It is full of clever creative ideas to bring to life the places and creatures he meets as the ship circumnavigates the world.
The projections on the screen above the stage are delightful, building up like sketches in his notebook and coloured in as if watercolours to set the scenes but also artful incorporating animation that brings the scene to life. We see the waves of the seas they cross and the volcanoes of the lands they visit. In a five year voyage they visit a lot of places and if anything we could see more of some of the places and his discoveries.
