TREASURE ISLAND

Adapted by John Nicholson and La Navet Bete

11 – 20 January 2024

Fourteen-year-old Jim Hawkins is serving ale in The Admiral Benbow Inn – when suddenly the door slams open and in strides Billy Bones, the infamous pirate, to change Jim's life forever…

Soon, Jim finds himself on board The Jolly Todger and setting sail on the high seas. Alongside him, the crew includes Captain Birdseye, Black Dog, Blue Peter, the one-legged Long John Silver, and a parrot called Alexa – and their destination: a mysterious tropical paradise in the Caribbean named Treasure Island. Or Skeleton Island. Depends who you ask.

Photos: Gail Bishop

Review – January 2024

Theo Spring

The energy and ingenuity poured into this production by everyone involved in it was simply amazing, producing a fast-moving, comic and highly enjoyable romp which, I dare to suggest, would have even pleased Robert Louis Stevenson if he had been around to see it! Remarkable on many levels – the number of characters played by just four members of the cast (30), the excellence of the costumes and the speed at which they were changed (unless you were there the night Captain Birdseye apologised for coming on stage without his trousers on – though fear not – he was wearing brown leggings), the huge number of lines which had to be learnt, a set which did duty as many venues and, perhaps to top this list, directed by Heather Bokota as her debut directing at the Miller Centre. 

Although there are ladies in the tale, the cast was all male and thus it was Gerard Kelly who was the old aunt at the Admiral Benbow pub, trying to convince the audience that she knew how to knit and later was a wow in her sparkly red dress as hostess of the TV spoof card game that won Jim Hawkins the ownership of The Jolly Todger schooner. She later appeared as the elegant mermaid with a name only she could pronounce – but it began with an ‘A’!

Jamie Heath looked very convincing as Captain Birdseye who had an appetite for fish fingers with curious ingredients and who (spoiler alert) turned out to be a real baddie. Constantly on stage as different characters, on shore, on The Jolly Todger, and even as Ben Gunn’s ‘son’ – a most realistic gorilla!

To Clive MacTavish fell, amongst other roles, the portrayal of the well-known character Long John Silver, complete with wooden leg. He was devilishly wicked with all kinds of verbal threats and violent actions – intent on finding the treasure. As you would expect, Silver also had his parrot, but this one was called Alexa, complete with a light circle moving round her neck and also complete with some very comic wrong interpretations of what she was being asked to do. As a comprehensive character turnaround, MacTavish was the genial host of the card game, dropping panto-like phrases and generally enticing audience participation. 

The only actor performing one role throughout was Bram Stein as the young west country lad, Jim Hawkins, with ambitions to own his own boat and who, through a variety of implausible co-incidences found himself the owner, not only of The Jolly Todger, but of an old treasure map where X marked the spot. In the company of a very suspect crew – Blue Peter and Black Dog alongside Long John Silver, he set off to find that treasure, meeting, once on the island, a delightful Ben Gunn who had been shipwrecked there some time ago.

The set, which used the revolve, had to fulfil many demands of place and time and was thoughtfully and cleverly designed by Keith Orton. The all-important lighting was by Jonathan Mash and the many and vital sound cues by Ben Cooke and Vernon Culver. The underwater effects were impressive, particularly when Jim Hawkins was shot, fell overboard and went down into the depths of the sea. 

Billed as a comedy adventure and written by Le Navet Bete and John Nicholson, I defy anyone in the audience not to have gone on their homeward way without feeling cheered both by the tale, the effects, the set and the amazing achievement of all four actors – a memory to treasure!