Treasure Island by Le Navet Bete at Lichfield Garrick

Looking around the auditorium of Lichfield’s Garrick Theatre, my daughter and I could see any number of small (but fairly fierce looking) pirates. However, in between them we could see one lad clutching his copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’. A classic children’s tale of adventure, piracy and derring-do, we were about to meet Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver and, quite randomly, Captain Birdseye of ‘fish finger’ fame (although it was quite disturbing to discover during the show that fish fingers are actually comprised of pirates that have crossed the white bearded grandfather figure of my youth). This was Le Navet Bete’s comical adaptation of the classic novel after all!

Exeter-based, 4-man Le Navet Bete are currently touring the country and my 9 year old daughter and I managed to catch them as they passed through the Midlands. The show was full of laughs, with a few of the original characters and some additional ones too. Long John Silver’s parrot had been renamed ‘Alexa’, because he had come across her in the Amazon. Unfortunately, she kept mishearing her instructions and ordering items such as Chinese lanterns and transparent underwear.

Captain Flint was now a pirate captain who had hidden her treasure well on Skeleton Island. ‘Jim-lad’ set out to re-discover it and make his fortune. However, all was not as it seemed for him as he made his way on his clipper - the ‘Jolly Todger’ (no, that’s not a typo) - to the Caribbean. I was slightly concerned that the wardrobe department might have run into financial difficulties given that one of the sailor’s costumes was rather small and tight-fitting, which left little to the imagination.

This show was well produced, good fun and full of laughs. If the young lad with his copy of Treasure Island had hoped for a classic re-telling, he would have been disappointed. As you may have guessed from the above, there was quite a lot of innuendo and overtly sexual comedy involved, some of which would have made Widow Twanky blush the colour of Santa’s breeches. We wish Le Navet Bete continued success as they continue their tour.

Treasure Island is had a short run at The Garrick but they have more dates on their website:

http://lenavetbete.com/tour-dates/

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