Pirate or Privateer?

Pirate or Privateer? Upon arrival the audience is divided into these two groups, to experience Iris Theatre’s interactive production of Treasure Island. This high-energy adventure tale takes place in the picturesque grounds of The Actors’ Church in Covent Garden. With sea shanties, swigs of rum aplenty andeven a full-sized pirate ship, Treasure Island is a swashbuckling adventure that will ignite your inner buccaneer.

With Captain Flint’s treasure map in tow, the audience is lead out of The Actors’ Church to the rousing chants of “Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest – yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” Corralling such alarge groups for a promenade piece isn’t without its’ difficulties as waiting for everyone to arrive in the variety of locations often means that the action lagged slightly.

Upon this fateful deck, the young Jim Hawkins (Harold Addo) comes of age while losing his way among the pirates on the open sea. A boy who would rather keep his word than save his skin, Jim pits his wits against one-legged Long John Silver (the estimable Dafydd Gwyn Howells). Jim must learn to spy and plot and fire a pistol if he is to ever see the shores of home again.

The young Addo has a lot of pluck and charm, but he doesn’t have the grit to make Jim’s brush with death resonate deeply. Howells, on the other hand, may well have been born to play the infamous buccaneer with the peg leg and the opinionated parrot. Suffusing Silver with equal parts swagger and desperation, Howells puts the wind in the sails of this production, which struggles with its momentum as the narrative unfolds. His unabashedly charismatic performance captures the dualities of the iconic pirate, a figure that Jim comes to love despite his villainy.

The soundscape composed by Candida Caldicot is atmospheric and heightens the sense of seafaring peril. Valentina Turtur’s designs are the show’s most arresting feature.

Some of the smaller members of the group are roped in for some endearing audience participation. At times when the audience have divided in two, the alternate scenes unfold in earshot, there’s a real sense that you might be missing out on some gems.

At two and half hours this production could do with a little tightening. That said, it is an endearing production brimming with enthusiasm.