Theatre reviews: Treasure Island | Peter Panto And The Incredible Stinkerbell

Duncan McLean’s new take on Stevenson’s much-loved pirate tale proves to be a treasure, writes Joyce McMillan

Jade Chan as Jim and Amy Conachan as Lean Jean Silver in Treasure Island at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh | Jess Shurte

Treasure Island, Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh ★★★★

Peter Panto and The Incredible Stinkerbell, Tron, Glasgow ★★★★

The Orkney-based writer Duncan McLean, who has adapted Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island as this year’s Lyceum Christmas show, is a man who notices things. One of the things he has noticed is how much a 19th-century theatre like the Lyceum, with its wooden structure and backstage rope systems, can resemble an old ship in full sail, when a show is under way.

It’s an idea reflected in Alex Berry’s beautiful open-stage design for McLean’s version of the story, which uses ropes, wooden ladders, a chest or two, and a few strings of fairy lights against a dark sky to create a world of adventures for our young hero Jim Hawkins, in this complicated but exhilaratingly inventive retelling of the tale in which Jim and his friendly local squire take ship for Treasure Island with a crew of cutthroat pirates in disguise.

There’s sometimes a sense of a show trying to do a little too much all at once, as McLean shifts the Admiral Benbow Inn to Granton on the shores of the Forth, transforms it into a rest home for unconvincingly reformed pirates,and has Jade Chan’s ferociously busy Jim tell them the story of how he came by the treasure map, and set sail north to Orkney from the port of Leith, with the daft but generous local laird.

Some aspects of this retelling work better than others, with Itxaso Moreno turning in a fine performance as dying buccaneer Billy Bones, and Amy Conachan never less than terrifyingly ambiguous as the friendly ship’s cook, Lean Jean Silver who, naturally, turns out to be the fiercest pirate captain of all.

Events on the island, by contrast, take a chaotic turn, what with the Pythonesque madness of musical director Tim Dalling’s performance as marooned pirate Ben Gunn, and a whole subplot about the dotty Laird o Leith’s sudden prowess as a long distance swimmer.

The sheer vitality of the show remains irresistible, though, as the story lurches on and off track – always righting itself in the nick of time – towards a conclusion that boldly subverts the whole idea of the treasure hunt, while touching on the idea of Scotland as both colonising and colonised. Dalling’s score for fiddle and accordion is gorgeous, and even the daft underwater scenes are hilariously well handled, thanks to Colin Grenfell’s lighting and Parasol Wu’s sound design. And as for the audience, they’re as happy as can be; with a yo ho ho, a tub of rum & raisin, and plenty to think about on the way home.

At the Tron, meanwhile – home of the cheeky Scottish meta-pantomime for the last 40 years – the ever astonishing Johnny McKnight revives his Peter Panto And The Amazing Stinkerbell, a mind-blowing take on JM Barrie’s story first seen there a decade ago. Clad in a fat suit and a shimmering see-through Cher costume, McKnight is at his sexily subversive best as Tinkerbell (known to her friends as Stink, for reasons obvious to any panto fan), who pursues a lustful affair with Robbie Jack’s elegant but hilariously confused Captain Hook, while (mostly) deploring his evil ways.

So is McKnight’s version of the story so in love with its own pop-cultural references and meta-theatrical jokes that it almost fails to keep the story moving? Yes it is. Are some of his cast as funny as they think they are? No, they’re not. But does it matter?

Hardly at all. McKnight is in superb form, the audience participation for all ages is intense and hilarious, and Kenny Miller’s design is a small-scale work of genius, with added wit. So did we have a good time? Yes we did; and next year, with any luck, we’ll be back for more.

Treasure Island at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh until 4 January. Peter Panto And The Incredible Stinkerbell at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until 5 January