A lot of blood is being spilled on the Globe's stage this season. First came Shakespeare's notoriously gory Titus Andronicus with its extensive and varied menu of murder, rape and cannibalism.
And now we have Simon Bent's Under The Black Flag, a pirate picaresque about the early years of John Silver (Cal MacAninch) which is replete with mutilation, torture and amputation, not to mention the "bare flesh and filthy language" promised in the venue's literature.
The Globe isn't known for its new writing programme - as you would expect, its repertoire largely consists of Shakespeare. The new plays that are staged here tend, like the Bard's own works, to be epic in scale and linguistically bold, often with a hint of pantomime.
In these respects, Roxana Silbert's production of Bent's script is entirely characteristic of the Globe's output.
There's no lack of intellectual ambition here: packed with echoes of Shakespeare, Under The Black Flag contrasts the barbaric political regime of the religious "extremist" Oliver Cromwell with the pirates' own parliament and the attractions of 17th-century Islam. But these serious themes are continually undercut with pathetic humour and bouts of cheerful (and highly repetitious) vulgarity.
Perhaps that's just as well. The tiresome war on terror parallels reduce John Dougall's Cromwell, a figure of fascinating contradictions, to a bloodthirsty fundamentalist cipher. The evening only really comes to life when the production stops preaching about religious intolerance and focuses instead on simple entertainment.
In rep until Aug 12 (next perf tonight), Shakespeare's Globe, 21 New Globe Walk SE1, 7.30pm, Sun mats 1pm, £5 to £31. Tel: 020 7401 9919. www.shakespeares-globe.org Tube: Southwark/London Bridge
Under The Black Flag : The Early Life, Adventures And Pyracies Of The Famous Long John Silver Before He Lost His Leg
