‘Treasure Island’ Offers a Coffer Filled with Adventure

Avast, ye scurvy dogs! Treasure Island, a swashbuckling tale of adventure, takes the stage at SBCC’s Garvin Theatre. This beloved story by Robert Louis Stevenson follows young Jim Hawkins, who is swept up in a pirate treasure hunt. The SBCC Theatre Group presents Bryony Lavery’s theatrical adaptation of the story, which presents Jim as a young woman in over her head on the bounding main rather than the traditional young lad.

“At its heart, it’s still the adventure story everyone loved as a kid,” says director Michael Bernard. “But it does look at the relationship of why boys were allowed to go on adventures, but girls weren’t. What happens when a young girl says, ‘I’m going to go on an adventure?’” Played in this production by Emiliana Jasper, Jim keeps her eyes open for an opportunity to escape the banality of an innkeeper’s life. “Occasionally, she bumps up against people who say, ‘Girls aren’t allowed to do that,’” says Bernard, “and she has that pride to say, ‘I can do whatever I want.’”

There’s much to look forward to in Treasure Island, from a three-story revolving set to sword fights high above the stage floor. The set changes are done by the cast while singing sea shanties, as though toiling on the deck of a ship. And if singing, sword-fighting pirates wasn’t enough, there’s also an animatronic parrot on the shoulder of famed seaman Long John Silver (played by Brian Harwell).Eerie, thrilling, and humorous, Treasure Island is a theater piece that reminds us of the importance of adventure. 

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See Treasure Island at the Garvin Theatre March 1-16 (previews are February 28-29). A note: While this is a children’s story, be warned that the stage violence warrants the equivalent of a PG-13 movie rating. Keep little ones at home, but older kids will enjoy this classic tale of glory on the high seas. Tickets can be purchased by calling (805) 965-5935 or online at theatregroupsbcc.com.