Press views: Treasure Island

Actor Keith Allen stars as wily pirate Long John Silver

Robin Hood star Keith Allen has made his West End debut in a new stage adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel Treasure Island.

Michael Legge, star of 1999 film Angela Ashes, plays Jim Hawkins in the production, which runs at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in central London until February 2009.

Here is what the critics' verdicts on the new production.

THE TIMES - BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE

It's not just that Keith Allen's parrot is an unmistakably mechanical birdlet that sounds like a Dalek and never goes anywhere near his shoulder.

It's that, emotionally speaking, his Long John Silver is too much Short John Silver. He's fly, he's sly, but he lacks weight and sometimes contrives to sound like Tony Hancock with a sore throat.

Tony Bell's Billy Bones is suitably horrible, as are Paul Brennen's Black Dog and John Lightbody's Blind Pew. But the tension flags once the pirates get going.

I'd have liked bloodier fights, but the real problem here is a lack of thrills.

Read the full review here

THE GUARDIAN - MICHAEL BILLINGTON

What makes Sean Holmes' production an assault on the eardrums is the frenzied style of acting.

Each new arrival at the Admiral Benbow Inn seems determined to out-roar his predecessor, and I can't help feeling Blind Pew's menace is not exactly enhanced by being underscored with drumbeats from the onstage band.

It is a relief when we get to Long John Silver, played by Keith Allen with refreshing restraint as a diamond Cockney geezer with a plausible veneer of honesty.

What we have here is a noisy, knowing spectacle that looks as out of place in this jewel of a theatre as a herd of bulls in a china shop.

Read the full review here

THE INDEPENDENT - MICHAEL COVENEY

Sean Holmes' impressive production lacks only laughter and nuttiness. It's a bit too serious, as if aspiring to be yet another Royal Shakespeare Company-style reclamation of a children's classic.

Technically, the show is a delightful surprise in the hallowed precincts of the Haymarket. There are loads of loud bangs, terrific fights and a recreation of such famous moments as the plot overheard in the apple barrel.

It's a tough old tale, with a heart of gold, and Holmes and his crew take quality time, and some trouble, to tell it.

Read the full review here

DAILY MAIL - QUENTIN LETTS

What a peculiar Treasure Island they are staging at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Some of Long John Silver's pirates are women, and not very good at acting. Then there is Blind Pew, who wears a pair of dark glasses that make him look like Ozzy Osbourne.

Director Sean Holmes seems uncertain where to pitch his production. Is it a pantomime with rolled eyes and 'Jim lad' accents?

Or does it try to take Stevenson's novel on its own terms and deliver a ripping yarn? It ends up trying to do both and achieving neither.