Avast me hearties! Step aboard the good ship Creation, as she sails into Christmas and beyond with her new show at the North Wall, Treasure Island. Arrrrh.
Hoist the mainsails, get your sea legs working, and then sit back as the Admiral Benbow Inn, the Hispaniola, and the terrifying Island itself come to life in front of your very eyes (or eye, if you’re wearing an eye patch). Arrrrh.
Prepare yourselves, mateys, for a treasure chest full of swashbucklin’, ’a-singin’ of sea shanties, mighty sea battles with cannon balls flyin’ past your ears (if you’re lucky you sea dogs might be able to throw some yourselves), one or two yo-ho-hos, and a whole lot of rum. Arrrrh.
By the Powers, the set be grand! Thar be an upper level, and rope ladders, and the pirates come out into the aisles as they be part of the island. Yarr, there’s a lot to look at. And the cast are all solid gold buccaneers, every one. There don’t be a scallywag among ’em. Rosie Holt shivers me timbers as Jim, and Clare Humphrey gets a big ‘Aye aye cap’n’ in her multiple roles, as she refuses to go down to Davy Jones’s locker without a fight. Arrrrh.
The plot in the second half walks the plank a bit, but it doesn’t really matter because everyone is having such a grand time, so they arrrrh. And who needs to understand exactly what’s going on when there be a song about cheese, sung by a decapitated head? Aye mateys, I speak the truth.
Whether ye be a scurvy sprog, or a salty old sea dog, if you don’t enjoy yourself at Treasure Island then the only explanation is that you must be a landlubber, and there be no cure for that. Arrrrh. ★★★★☆ Deborah Sims 18th December 2015
