One of the coolest moments in our entire play was unscripted.
It was right near the end, too. Ben Gunn had just released Long John Silver, and was talking about how he wasn’t like him anymore, and what he wanted out of life. In the background, Silver was taking his treasure from the chest and putting the coins in his pockets. He closed the lid, and suddenly noticed a single coin on the floor. He picked it up and began to put it with the others, but he reconsidered. He held it, then paced over to Ben. As soon as the maroon was finished talking, and Silver had said it was nice, he held up the coin.
“Give my regards to Jim Hawkins,” he said, as he handed it to Ben Gunn.
“I will,” Ben nodded, taking it.
Silver tipped his hat. “Farewell, Ben Gunn.”
“Farewell… Long John Silver.”
And Silver walked offstage.
***
When he handed him that coin, I just felt so surprised and happy, I literally gasped, then broke into a huge smile. I even felt tears rising. Those didn’t get far, pushed back by the time Silver came backstage, but it affected me that much. I’m sure I sound like a sap, but it’s true, and there’s a reason.
See, when I watched each rehearsal of this play, one thing I always loved is watching the way they played out the relationship between Jim and Silver. I’m such a sucker for good friendships, and our Silver especially carried that one (as I’ve said, he’s the best in the cast). So many little things, even outside of the lines.
And in the last dress rehearsal before lunch, Silver said that line, said “Give my regards to Jim Hawkins,” right before he went offstage, just off the cuff.
And I LOVED that! It felt like just what was missing in that scene, somehow.
I mean, Silver had been a fearful pirate, no question. But he had grown close to Jim, close enough to be friends. That’s part of the complexity of the character. Silver had defended him from the others when Jim came into the stockade—thus risking his status among a band of treacherous pirates—thus risking his life. He was willing to do that for Jim.
And yet when he’s freed, he merely skulks off with his bit of the treasure as if he were no better than George Merry, and without so much as a mention of the boy he risked his life for. If he’d had that, it would’ve shown that complexity, shown that yes, he’s still a pirate, but he still cares about Jim. The play didn’t have it. But here comes our Silver with his line, and amends that.
I mentioned it to him at lunch, told him I thought that line he added was really cool. He didn’t say much to that, and I wasn’t sure how much he thought of it. Still, I’d been hoping since that he’d use the line in the performance.
And he did. But whether he planned it before he went on, or thought it up while he was sitting onstage, or if he just saw the thing of the floor and had a sudden idea, he decided to ask Ben, with his regards, to give Jim that coin, and the moment was a total surprise to me. You don’t get many of those when you’ve rehearsed a play every day for a week. But the real amazement came not because it was a surprise, but because it was so, completely, perfect.
Call it the cherry on top, the icing on the cake, but I loved it so much. There seemed something symbolic in the gesture, though I didn’t stop to think how. I’ll probably figure something more specific a few minutes after I post this. But it just felt so right, and I think I may be a slight fangirl for it.
To put it plainly, that was my absolute favourite moment in the entire performance.
