Lord Of The Flies *** TNT

Not so long ago, the idyllic setting of Regent’s Park was the regular host to a pretty Midsummer Night’s Dream and a feel-good summer musical. Under artistic director Timothy Sheader, the opening production of the 2011 season couldn’t be more different.

Jon Bausor’s set is the undoubted star of the show – the splintered shell of a crashed aircraft, an avalanche of baggage pouring from its shattered frame, dominates the tree-encircled island beach where a clutch of British schoolboys find themselves stranded without adult supervision in Nigel Williams’ 1995 stage adaptation of William Golding’s 1954 novel.

As Alistair Toovey’s fundamentally decent Ralph and more dangerous choir leader Jack (James Clay) vie for leadership, argue over priorities and finally lose sight of their objectives, the squabbling candidates of The Apprentice temporarily come to mind. But the stakes here are much higher and it doesn’t take long for the veneer of civilisation imposed by rule and order to wear thin.

Faces are ritualistically smeared with blood after they kill a pig, and bodies daubed with tribal paint to hunt the feared symbolic beast which, in reality, is the darkness inside each one of them. The young cast acquits itself well – George Bukhari’s asthmatic, myopic Piggy (with his futile attempts to be make the others listen to reason) is particularly impressive, as is 9 year old Harrison Sansostri who shares the role of bewildered "littlun" Perceval.

But the script is functional rather than inspired and can take little of the credit for the growing sense of menace which descends as the night sky darkens overhead.

Open Air Theatre Inner Circle, Regents Park, NW1 4NR (0844 826 4242) Tube: Baker Street openairtheatre.org £19 – £39 (premium seats £46) Until 18th June