Review: TREASURE ISLAND, Royal Lyceum Theatre

This year's Christmas show at the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh is a Scottish twist on Treasure Island. The spin on the classic story is that Jim Hawkins now runs a living facility for reformed pirates. They always get a bedtime story but it can’t be anything that gets them too excited and reminds them of their old ways. Finally Jim relents and agrees to tell them their own swashbuckling story. 

It's a strong cast lead by Jade Chan as Jim Hawkins and Amy Conachan as Lean Jean Silver. Playing pirates and various other roles are Tim Dalling, TJ Holmes, Itxaso Morena and Dylan Read. 

I’m not entirely sure who the demographic is for this production. It’s billed as a family show but it’s severely lacking in fun. There’s a lovely puffin puppet that gets some giggles but other than that it's a pretty joyless affair. Jim Hawkins acquires a map from Billy Bones and manages to convince someone to captain a ship to sail to Orkney in search of the treasure. The action takes too long to unfold and despite decent performances, it just doesn't reach its potential. 

The stage design by Alex Berry is beautiful at times but doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be minimalistic and imaginative or a spectacle. It doesn't feel like a festive offering which would be fine but there's a slap-dash effort to decorate for Christmas in the last 5 minutes which seems to come out of nowhere. 

The talented cast are let down by the script and lacklustre songs. The Lyceum Christmas production is normally a real highlight in the calendar but Treasure Island is a disappointment.

Photo credit: Jess Shurte 

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