Treasure Island

Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island has been a favourite with children as well as adults for several generations.

There have been many stage adaptations of this story, each one offering a slightly different approach. This musical adaptation combines humour and some audience participation with a powerful and, at times, quite frightening story. I think the balance works well.

Originally written for a professional company, the show was first staged with just seven adults and six teenagers. However, if you ignore the suggested “doubling” it offers considerable scope for companies wanting to use a larger cast as there are 11 speaking parts and plenty of opportunities for chorus work with the pirates and sailors.

The original production was staged at the Gardner Arts Centre in Brighton with a cast of 7 adults, 1 child (Jim) and a chorus of 6 teenagers. It ran for 45 performances from December 2001 to January 2002 and played to over 14,500 people.

Minimum cast size (with 3 cast members “doubling”):

7 adults, 1 child (Jim) plus a chorus of sailors and pirates. However, the musical works very well with a much larger cast as there is plenty for the sailors and pirates to do.

Number of individual speaking parts:

11

Suitable for:

amateur companies; schools

Running time:

approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

Script:

£6.95 – The script can be emailed to you and there will be a fee for the right to make an agreed number of photocopies. Contact us for details.

Vocal score:

£19.95

CD of the songs:

£8.95

A backing CD of this show is available