THEATRE REVIEW: Treasure Island ★★★★

Treasure Island
The National Theatre, London
Wednesday 3rd December - Wednesday 8th April 2015 25th

Since 3rd December 2014, the Olivier Stage at The National has given its winter season to stage the Robert Louis Stevenson adapted adventure of Bryony Lavery's Treasure Island. Told through the narrative of Jim Hawkins' (Patsy Ferran) eyes, we were are sent on this wonderful adventure from start to finish, with very little time for a breather.

Straight from the beginning, the visuals on stage are stunning, with wooden panels and arches all the way around to symbolise the pirate ship. The revolve on the ground, and heightened scenery from below also allows for little manual movement throughout,which I really felt in awe of from the attention to detail that was acquired for each of the set pieces, especially with the Hispaniola's ship quarters and other rooms as seen in the first act. Lizzie Clachan's costume and makeup designs also was also something that must of been thought about a lot, especially with all the different pirates that were introduced in the first part of this production, and it all made ultimately makes the atmosphere have chills on the back of your neck from the realism in the worn away materials and descriptive pirate traits.

The thing that really shone though in this production was the acting and chemistry produced on stage. It may have been because of the months of shows they have endured so far, but the relationships each of these characters had with one another was believable and compelling. You really felt the warmth of Ferran's Hawkins towards her Grandma (Gillian Hanna), the innocence of Grey (Tim Samuels), the characteristics behind Bill Bones (Aidan Kelly), but most of all, and the relationship that really became the heart of the story, the relationship between Jim and Long John Silver (Arthur Darvill). Both Patsy and Arthur put in the most energy to make their scenes memorable,scene with one in particular when they are watching the stars, as we as the audience get to join in with this activity, with the help of glowing light bulbs throughout the whole of the auditorium.

If there was something though that I found that lacked in my opinion though, it would be the anticlimactic ending, which felt almost rushed and undeveloped. After Ben Gunn's (Joshua James) successful attempt of haunting John Silver and his crew mates, it felt like the following scenes leading to the end were briefly looked upon, and not fully realised to the extent that they could have been, in what was otherwise.

Overall, Polly Findlay's direction take on a classic tale is visually compelling and will appeal to audiences from young and old, as it allows you to escapee the real world and step aboard the Hispaniola to set sail with Jim Hawkins' and the gang in search to defeat their arch nemesis, with a stellar cast lead by Patsy Ferran at the helm!