Like many people, I read Lord of the Flies in high school. I remember being chilled by the tale of British schoolboys marooned on an island after a plane crash and how rapidly the group degenerated into bestial behavior. It was a not-very-subtle morality tale: Evil lurks in all of us.

Round House Theatre’s Lord of the Flies—adapted from William Golding’s book by Nigel Williams—relies on rock music, strobe lights, a minimal set, and music-video choreography to update the tale so that 21st-century teens will be able to identify with the story. It works more in theory than onstage.

The young actors are energetic and occasionally even endearing, but they’re too old to be childlike. Their British accents slip and slide. The music and dancing camp up the story so much that it loses its edge. Golding’s beastly boys turn into backup dancers.

Director Blake Robison deserves credit for trying to convey an important message to an audience raised on MTV. But this one just didn’t work for me.