Treasure Island at Bristol Old Vic Review
Written by Joe for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Bristol Old Vic’s festive offering this year – a new musical interpretation of Treasure Island – is pure joy. Making excellent use of a company of actor musicians, this production transports us from central Bristol in 2025 to the 18th century, in a seafaring adventure featuring pirates, puppets and plenty of fun.
The show is stylishly designed by Tom Rogers – with an intelligent fusion of fashion from modern day and Georgian pirate garb. The Adidas frock coats and Nike tricorns were inspired. The ever-expanding set was spectacular, and as each new layer was revealed, the scale and size of the adventure grew to fill the space.
Adryne Caulder-James as Jim Hawkins was fantastic – playing youthful thirteen without ever being irritating, and singing with strength, clarity and character throughout. A stand-out performer to watch – if she’s not in SIX at some point, it will be a huge loss.
The audience were brought into the show with some great engagement moments led by Jayde Adams, which set the style of the piece perfectly from the off. Jayde’s Ben Gunn number is a sight to behold, and a great highlight in the second act.
The whole company work extremely well to keep the story flowing, and give life and intrigue to a story which could be predictable. I felt that sometimes we lost the idea that this was a play within a play, and moments at the start and end of the second act which brought us back out of the world of the story felt a little unnecessary. While I enjoyed the storytelling being rooted in modern-day Bristol, I don’t know that the show would lose anything by only being the story of Treasure Island without the conceit of the storytelling festival.
The second act takes a twist – and warns us that we’re taking a departure from the original Stevenson novel, which felt like an exciting opportunity to explore the island and the character dynamics. Personally I felt that the idea got away from the writing a little, and the songs in the second act didn’t have the joy and fun of the first. With so much scope, and so much opportunity to explore the fringes of the world Stevenson created, the route to the end felt meandering, and at times lacked purpose.
The musicality of the show is what makes it sail through, with upbeat numbers carrying us through the story, expertly played by the cast. Brunger and Cleary excel at character numbers, which bring us into the world, and I’d love to see what a future version of this show, which explores other characters a little more, might do for the pacing and fun of the second half.
Overall, this show is brilliant Christmas fun for the whole family, although the age recommendation of 7+ is an accurate guide because younger children did get scared, or lost patience with the intricate narrative. I really hope to see this show again as it continues to evolve and develop, as it feels like there is genuinely a treasure of a show in there – it’s just not quite plain sailing yet.
Plays until 10 January 2026
★ ★ ★ ★
