Description
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.
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. If you ignore the suggested “doubling” the show 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.
Minimum cast size (with 3 cast members ‘doubling’): 8 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; Professional Companies
Running time: Approx. 1 hour 45 minutes