The Outfit Theatre Company never fails to impress. Their encore season of Treasure Island is a fanciful and polished adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel.

Alison Quigan takes the helm as Director a second time, steering this shipload of talent (mind how you read that) into mirth-infested waters. Once again, to their credit, The Outfit Theatre crew have created a production of elegance and hilarity; a scowling musical and shriek aloud pantomime.

It is cool to see they have taken careful account of noted foibles from Sian Robertson’s review of Treasure Island 2009. The word polished springs to mind… again.

I am pleased to report, all salty accents are in top form this time round, there is a nice male/ female ratio in Long John Silver’s scurrilous crew (my observation), rowing techniques have been choreographed to Evers-Swindell perfection and the crusty character, Blind Pew, has been confirmed a man.

Shrieking highlights in the performance hail solely from the male side of the cast, fantastically delivered in stereo by Joel Herbert as Squire Trelawney, with extra volume courtesy of Andrew Ford’s effeminate Dr Livesey. Edward Clendon tweaks his femme side as young Jim Hawkins’ mother and Colin Garlick earns extra points for being particularly squawky… although an exception can be made for him, he is after all Captain Flint, the parrot.

I have to add, X marks the spot for his deliciously garish costume, a Sponge-Bob yellow, satin lycra parrot… I’m about to start laughing again.

Leeringly funny, the core cast have remained unchanged from last year’s outing with the exception of two new characters, The Brothers Tim, a long-john flashing duo, played by Brad Johnson and Peter Coates; gingery oafish additions to Long John Silver’s (Devlin Bishop) dastardly crew.

What a crew they are, beautifully mean in their scowling guise; Seasnake Sue played by Gypsy Kauta has my 9-year-old daughter’s admiration. Pirate femme fatales, Ema Barton as Israel Hands and Cutthroat Claire, played by Toni Rowe, tug for equal place in both my daughters’ affections; my youngest is resolute dubbing the trio, the ‘Princess Pirates’. Little girls and swirly dresses, pretty women with snarls, I am sure the majority of little girls in the audience only saw the beautiful costumes and make-up. Bless.

Chris Tempest plays the fresh-faced young Jim Hawkins; he seamlessly laces the cast and young audience together, easily switching from storyteller to audience engager, a quality both kids and parents enjoy in a performer. Skilfully crafted and wonderfully choreographed, gymnastic with treacherous sing-along’s, this outing of Treasure Island is a children’s show not to be missed. 

The quality and energy this crew of performers delivers is top notch; case in point, Edward Clendon’s athletically camp romp as the marooned Ben Gunn. His character portrayal could claim direct lineage to Gollum, or Bam Bam from The Flintstones. He is disturbingly funny.

At the show’s end, the delighted audience left with a stash of the pirates bounty… Chupa Chups for all, hand delivered by the cast. What a cool touch.

As I said before, the Outfit Theatre Company never fails to impress.
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A noisy, rascally pantomime, this production covers all the mandatory panto traditions (song, dance, cross-dressing, subtle sexual innuendo for the mums and dads, modern political/pop-culture commentary, animal costumes, audience involvement) without being the namby-pamby drivel that pantomimes so often are (in my humble opinion).

It’s raucous piratey fun, boisterous, with an authentic bloodthirsty atmosphere of mutiny, treachery, life and death and slapstick tomfoolery.

The main elements of the original are kept intact, though many of the details are simplified, obviously, for the sake of fitting it all into an hour.

Three new characters are introduced: The sinister, serpentine Seasnake Sue, played by Gypsy Kauta, Cutthroat Claire (Toni Rowe) and Gunpowder Gertrude played by a scowling Kirsten Ibbetson. Israel Hands (Ema Barton) is also turned into a female character. These four ruthless women, with their short fuses, suspicious snarls and handy cutlasses, make a terrifying crew not to be trifled with.

Great costumes (you could almost smell the sea salt, filth and rum) and hearty musical numbers – traditional and adapted rowdy sea shanties with haunting harmonies – add to the atmosphere.

I have a few pedantic quibbles (mostly easily ironed out). For example, in the Wednesday afternoon show, ‘Jim’ stumbled on a few of his lines, there was some confusion as to whether Blind Pew is a man or a woman, the longboat moved in the opposite direction to which the crew were rowing, and some of the accents were curiously flexible. However, none of this would have drawn the attention of the children in the audience, nor did it really detract from my own enjoyment.

My seven-year-old son’s favourite character was ‘Captain Flint’ the parrot, played by Colin Garlick in bright plumage. Chris Tempest plays a charming young Jim Hawkins, who’s at the centre of the story and narrates parts of it in engaging asides to the audience. Joel Herbert and Andrew Ford make a comedic pair as the foppish gents, Squire Trelawney and Dr Livesey.

Long John Silver is played by Devlin Bishop who captures the ‘moral flexibility’ of his character – changing allegiances to suit his own ends. Josh Harriman is thoroughly piratey as Billy Bones and then plays the demented Steve, the only male (and least masculine!) member of Silver’s dastardly pirate crew. Edward Clendon plays Jim’s lanky, falsetto Mother, as well as the skittish Ben Gunn who they find marooned on the island, and was a favourite of mine.

All in all, an authentic swashbuckling adventure to liven the school holidays, which I heartily recommend.  
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Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer