Treasure Island by The Little Company < review >

Treasure Island presented by The Little Company

Treasure Island is a 1 hr play about how the daughter of sailor, Jim Hawkins who has dreams of sailing the seven seas, is finally given the chance when a seaman stumbles into her mother’s inn and entrusts her with a map to Captain Flint’s treasures. With a cast of colourful seamen, she sets off to find the hidden treasure and end up with an exciting adventure. It is a great storyline that narrates stories of dreams, adventures and friendship.

Treasure Island play truly does justice to its adaptation of the popular novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is an enjoyable and high quality play with intriguing plot and charming characters, the realistic sets and beautiful costumes leaving the audience captivated and deeply immersed in the swashbuckling experiences of young Jim. The use of a mix of life cast and puppets add up to an unique experience. One flaw perhaps would be the fact that the lack of back stereos in the theatre meant that sometimes the voices of the cast would be overpowered by the music. Even though I sat in the middle of the theatre, I found myself straining to hear the dialogue at times when the background music was played. I liked that the programme booklet came with activity and colouring pages for the children, but the glossy surface makes it ineffective for real drawing.

Although the recommended age is 5 years and below, I find that children that are too young might not be able to fully understand or appreciate the complex plots. Nevertheless, children of all ages would be able to appreciate the aesthetics of the play and enjoy the wonderful musical numbers. The musical numbers also provide familiar music chords for parents to reminisce their childhood songs like “Yo Ho Ho” and “Things That Go Bump in the Night”. Even as an adult watching the play, it was an enjoyable experience.

Be dazzled by the smooth storytelling interwoven with the mind-boggling transformative sets and excellent choreographed musical numbers. Look out for how the First Act ends with a dramatic cliff-hanger that made the audience give a collective whine, unwilling to go for the 15 minute intermission. Second Act ends with a typical happy ending suitable for children, but the plot was orchestrated so well to this point that it comes with no surprise, and ends in a heart-warming finale with an audience sing-along. Be prepared for a few surprises throughout the whole show that will make you impressed with the interaction between the actors and the audience that excited the children to no end.

This play is a real treasure, just like the title itself.