Arrgh! What's this? Long John Silver with no stump

KEITH Allen makes his West End stage debut next week as Long John Silver - with a leather boot instead of a peg leg and a mechanised squawking parrot on his shoulder.

The new version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island opens at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, on Monday.

Written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Sean Holmes, the production is unlike traditional Christmas pantomime versions. It is described as a "play with music" - sea shanties - rather than played for laughs.

Normally, Long John Silver, the villainous ship's quartermaster, has a wooden peg leg. However Allen appears with a grisly-looking full-length leather leg and carries a mechanised puppet parrot on his shoulder, which moves and talks, rather than a stuffed bird.

Allen, best known for being a hell-raiser and the father of singer Lily Allen, has appeared at the Almeida Theatre in Islington and at the National Theatre, but this is his first time in the West End. He has also starred in films and television. Treasure Island will include Sunday matinee shows.