BRISTOL has always been a special place for Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson’s ever-popular tale of piracy and treasure maps … it’s even said the Scottish writer worked on the story at the city’s Llandoger Trow inn, which might have been the model for the Admiral Benbow.

This year, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School has chosen Bryony Lavery’s adaptation for the Christmas show at the Redgrave Theatre in Clifton, on until 30th November, with 13 young actors unfolding the story on a darkly looming set designed by Zoe Squire, atmospherically lit by Kass Goosen.

Young Jim (perhaps Jimima) Hawkins lives with her grandmother, landlady of the Admiral Benbow, and is riven with nightmares about a one-legged man described by the drunken, dirty, resident customer Bill Bones. He won’t sleep for fear of the arrival of the unidexter, and won’t pay the bill for his food and lodging – and endless supply of grog. He guards his trunk of possessions 24/7. First the pirate Black Dog comes looking for him, and he is followed by Blind Pew, issuing warnings and curses. Jim is even more frightened.

The presence of the buffoonish Squire Trelawny and the crisply efficient Dr Livesey doesn’t help matters. When Bones dies, of fear or a stroke, Jim and Grandma Hawkins open the trunk to take the money owed to them, but find instead a map. Jim, a bright lad, can not only read the words on the map but also the co-ordinates. The squire and the doctor determine to charter a ship and go in search of the buried hoard. They are helped in their search for a crew by an affable, knowledgable fellow who used to be a sailor. He’s sitting on the dock, his long coat over his legs … or is it leg?

This version is a story for the family, full of derring do, shanties, talking parrots and a very hairy man who dreams not of ghosts but of cheese. Of course, it all comes right in the end, with the baddies getting their comeuppance and Jim and his new turophile friend saving the day. But you knew that …

It’s an ensemble piece that uses the whole auditorium as well as the very versatile and effective set. Tesni Richards leads the charge as Jim, strongly supported by a stunning performance by Joshua Hogan as Ben Gunn – extraordinary vocal and physical dexterity – with Tom Brace-Jenkins as the convincing and charismatic Long John Silver, and with none of the usual caricature elements.

Following hot on the heels of the The Welkin, this BOVTS production promises great things for this intake of students.

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Photographs by Edward Felton