Greeted in the bar and auditorium by a group of young performers singing evocative sea shanties, you could almost feel the salt on your face and rum in your belly even before the show started at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds.
Indeed, it was this characteristic music, along with some fabulous group dance numbers, that really made the production engaging – full credit to musical director David Lewington and choreographer Julia Cave who put together swashbuckling routines guaranteed to shiver the timbers.
From the opening scene, the energetic crew transported the audience of landlubbers first to a disreputable dockside tavern then aboard a ship set for adventure and Treasure Island.
Along the way there were jaunty jokes, skipping scallywags and Long John Silver (Jack Taylor-Balls channelling Johnny Depp) even brought along his parrot (a puppet voiced by Chloe Rayson).
In fact the young actors on stage were having so much fun, those watching couldn’t fail to do the same. At one point a small child seated behind me asked: “Are those real pirates?” Well matey, I think we were all pleasantly hornswoggled.
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