Jules Verne’s caper is a good fit for the Dukes theatre’s annual promenade around Williamson Park. The journey undertaken by Phileas Fogg – in this case, one that starts and finishes in Lancaster – provides just the right dramatic justification for the audience to move from location to location.
It starts in a pond with the actors drinking rosé wine in a boat, takes us to an Indian railway when the path is at its straightest and shows us a cowboy encampment, complete with open fire, when we reach the natural amphitheatre of the Dell. It doesn’t take too much imagination to believe the Ashton Memorial, where the final scene plays out, could be the kind of property a wealthy Victorian would occupy.
But it is not all gains. In this version, Fogg and his servant Passepartout are merged. Presumably to save on actors, playwright Andrew Pollard makes Passepartout disguise himself as a gentleman on the instructions of his employer Lady Fogg (Sibylla Meienberg). She has taken out a wager that he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days and he feels duty-bound to try. Sam Jones takes on the part with an innocent charm, even if we only occasionally see his humble Lancastrian roots, but the made-up side of his character can only be underdeveloped.
It is not only that Fogg has one less accomplice to complicate the drama, it is also that there is no place for the novel’s themes about time keeping, punctuality and regimentation. No place, either, for the idea of Fogg as a man who is too busy clock-watching to listen to the rhythm of his heart.
Passepartout’s disguise does find a neat parallel in the story of his travelling companion Aouda, an undercover princess, which makes their eventual union feel like a meeting of equals. As the runaway royal, Aleeza Humranwala makes an impressive partner, tough, resourceful and emotionally mature.
At two-and-three-quarter hours, Sarah Punshon’s production is way too long, not least because every scene starts ages after the audience has gathered. But the actors do a good job ratcheting the energy levels back up, with knockabout turns from Heather Phoenix and Angelo Paragoso, and a set of songs by composer Ziad Jabero that keep things jolly.
• Around the World in 80 Days continues at Williamson Park, Lancaster, until 27 August
