Treasure Island, York Theatre Royal, March 2022

We’ve always been fans of Le Navet Bete, and so far have seen The Three Musketeers, Dracula The Bloody Truth and – streamed online – Treasure Island and A Christmas Carol. This was our first time taking our two little landlubbers (our boys, aged 5 and 8) to see the motley crew of four, and we suspected they were in for a treat!

We all dropped anchor at York Theatre Royal, and prepared for a swashbuckling good time…

Barrel of Laughs

The company bring Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic to life with an abundance of sight gags, physical comedy and nautical nonsense. There are even songs (yes, the chaps managed to hit the high c’s – musical pirate pun!) The laughs come thick and fast, whether it’s from Alexa the parrot’s technological confusion, a mermaid flopping about or Ben Gunn’s descent into island madness. His ramshackle coconut wife is delightfully nuts! And a monkey for a son? Bananas!

Designer Fi Russell’s inventive set cleverly shifts from tavern to schooner and desert island, and a hardworking stage manager ensures that everything runs smoothly. The main narrative is here, but with some inventive twists. For example, Captain Birdseye heads up the voyage, and a game of Play Your Cards Right involves the audience in a nautical wager…complete with sparkly jacket, top hat and glamorous assistant.

A underwater puppet scene opens the second act, and adds an extra dimension to the fun. Expect plenty of punny puppet names and jokes that are…well…a bit fishy!

As with previous productions, the four actors (Dan Bianchi, Nick Bunt, Al Dunn and Matt Freeman) play a variety of roles. The cast swap wigs, costumes – and sometimes genders – quicker than you can say ‘shiver me timbers’. Everything is ship-shape and as slick as a freshly-mopped poop deck…it’s clear the the cast and crew have honed the show to near pirate perfection.

We first saw this production online during lockdown and, whilst we enjoyed it, it wasn’t an (eye) patch on seeing it live!

A Shore Bet

So how did our two younger crewmates fare? New to Le Navet Bete, they didn’t know what to expect, and their only prior experience of Treasure Island featured Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. Muppets aside, they were gripped by the production last night. I knew our eight-year-old would enjoy it, but wasn’t sure it would hold the attention of our five-year-old. However, he was transfixed and it was worth the late night!

The company suggest the show is suitable for ages 7+ and, whilst this isn’t strictly children’s theatre or a pantomime, I would say it’s visual and entertaining enough for children and adults alike.

There was a very enthusiastic school group in last night who whooped and cheered with delight! Highlights for that group, roughly ten to twelve-year-olds, were the moments of toilet humour and the more adult gags…although it never got more smutty than The Jolly Todger and some risqué dancing! One boy behind me exclaimed, “This is definitely not PG!”. In reality though, it was fairly family-friendly except for a few mild swears and suggestive moments – although these went over our five-year-old’s head.

Writer and director John Nicholson has created another hit with Treasure Island, and the cast camaraderie works just as well as ever. We enjoyed Le Navet Bete’s other shows more, but this could be because we had already seen Treasure Island online so knew what to expect (and many gags rely on the element of surprise) Perhaps not as faithful to the story as Dracula too, but nonetheless this is a great night out.

A rip-roaring riot of arrrrr-some entertainment…yo ho and a bottle of FUN!

MAGIC RATING