Pitcairn, Shakespeare's Globe ***

Pitcairn is a play about the island, based around when the British discovered it and the destruction that ensues. From the writer of Great Britain, One Man Two Gunors and Made in Dagenham the musical, Richard Bean here has gone along a slightly darker twist. There is something inspiring about the writing here. It manages to maintain a level of humour whilst having genuine intrigue. Within the play, there a several divisions that appear; namely class, god, gender and race. One minute the division on the island is due to the gender of the islanders and next they are arguing about God and science with relative ease. The acting is also fantastic, with all the actors putting in equally fantastic performances. No one stands out as being perfect but the play chugs along nicely. The set also works well in juxtaposition to it's venue. Despite all of this, however, when all put together, it doesn't quite work as a whole. I really enjoyed it but I can not say that it holds a candle to Bean's earlier work and will never be as memorable or as exiting as Great Britain.