Island tale a treasure for kids and adults
MAROONED on a desert island, two cruise liner musicians keep themselves busy by re-telling Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Treasure Island.
Wee Stories latest production Treasure Island is staging a mutiny at West Yorkshire Playhouse next month and The Guide caught up with co-creative director Andy Cannon to see what they had in store,
Andy said: "It's not for the faint hearted. One of my favourite lines from the show is 'although it's great fun, it's no fish finger commercial, it's cut throat.' I think people tend to forget that about pirates and Treasure Island.
"We have to remind people that it's really only suitable for the over eights - maybe at age six or seven you'd have fun but we've had four-year-olds turn up in pirate costumes and leave crying. Pirates are scary - nasty pieces of work."
Wee Stories' productions are family friendly, and designed to give as many laughs for the adults as for the kids.
When the stranded musicians start telling Stevenson's classic tale, they remain true to the story, something Andy said was important to him and co-creative director Iain Johnstone.
Andy said: "It's a story within a story. Both Iain and myself are big Stevenson fans and we didn't want to just nick the characters and do our own thing. The characters we play out are legendary. Long John Silver is up there with Superman or Sherlock Holmes - why would you mess with that?"
Wee Stories were last at the Playhouse five years ago with Arthur, Story of a King, and Andy's looking forward to coming back.
He said: "We absolutely loved coming to Leeds last time round. We try to appeal to a family audience but we also get a lot of schools coming in. In the earlier days of the company we spent a lot of time in schools but we think this one appeals to a broad audience. Children get so much out of going to the theatre, especially if they re experiencing it alongside their parents or grandparents.
"The adults are enjoying this one as much as the kids though. We've had people come back to us and say bit's encouraged them to dig out their old copy of Treasure Island."
Wee Stories are based at King's Theatre in Edinburgh, something which came about by chance.
Andy said: "The theatre is like our Fairy Godmother. We started out there by filling a bit of unused space and we managed to talk them into letting us stay."
Treasure Island comes to West Yorkshire Playhouse from Wednesday, June 2 to Saturday, June 5. Tickets are available from the box office on 0113 213 7700 or www.wyp.org.uk.*
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Weather for Wakefield
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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