The Pirates’ Ship tells the tale of Troy, who lives by the sea with his sister Tania and their extended family. Troy is obsessed with pirates and ocean treasure. One day, to his utter delight, a message in a bottle washes up on shore. Then a strange looking man arrives wanting to buy Uncle Dave’s boat. Troy is certain he is a pirate. Troy and Tania piece together the puzzle and discover not only a kidnapping but treasure and a posse of pirates as well.

Gillian Rubinstein’s The Pirates’ Ship is a children’s book, an early reader for six years and over. Urban Myth has taken up the challenge of making children’s theatre with young people. Seven of the company’s senior members and an Urban Myth creative team with scripting assistance from Monkey Barr, have adapted the storybook for the stage.

Rubinstein’s book provides an Australian story depicting a little boy’s wild imagination, play, fun and adventure. Aspects of the work on stage point to a playful two-week creative development generating the stage script. Judging from the energy and fun on stage, the cast has experienced a wonderful opportunity workshopping, rehearsing and performing the play they have generated. The story’s aspects of wild imaginings and adventure have not flowed into the production though and there are moments when play and fun from the cast is pumped to the point of straining. The feeling pervading is that the young theatre makers are in search of adventure and wild imaginings and the professionals have not looked. They appear to have lost their sense of adventure.

Without the professionals holding up their end of the bargain, the young performers, who have brought all their enthusiasm and belief in what they are doing, have been left exposed in a scanty space; a place of limited pace, action, volume, tone, texture, dimension. They have been left in an open white sunny disposition backed up by the lighting design that is equally white and sunny. Aspects of the design are unwieldy, in particular the foam props. The production is touring to Mumbai and foam does pack down small but it doesn’t serve the performers. Actors love prop business but the foam gives them nothing substantial to hold onto and actually becomes awkward to handle when it’s a yacht with a tall mast.

The theatrical re telling does stay true to the children’s story. The overall structure of the production has a rambling feeling which gives the impression the work is longer than the forty minute performance. The structure of the play is very close to that of the book but the book utilises the text and illustration to its best advantage. This in itself highlights the difficulties that can arise when adapting an existing work from another source. A theatrical adaptation needs to be theatre embodying the story as it knows best, rather than telling or even illustrating the story as both those things can be found between the covers of the book. On the micro level, the production does have funny one-liners, some from the book which have translated really well and others have obviously emerged through rehearsal, which likewise are funny. The cast has clearly worked on line delivery and when they strike a laugh, their pleasure is contagious.

If theatre is allowed to exist as a medium unto itself, The Pirates’ Ship does have potential on stage. This production needs to shift from storybook acted out to theatrical adaptation. The production gave flashes of this; the sea morphing into a dress fitting, not to mention a snatch of a sonorous voice, the ability to embrace character, presence in the moment, tight ensemble work. These are all theatrical ingredients that did appear on stage and do make up good theatre.

As a whole, the production didn’t pull together the vital elements to make good theatre. I wanted it to. I know the effort that has gone into it from the company level to the young peoples’ personal investment. In terms of process it appears the young performers have had a really special opportunity to work with Rubinstein’s existing text and workshop the story with Monkey Baa. This calibre of interaction between young artists and members of the arts world illustrates the integrity in the aims of the project and likewise in the method. It is a commendable example to set and may Urban Myth have the opportunity to provide this kind of interaction again. May those in the cast who wish to pursue careers in theatre, do so. In the mean time it is our responsibility as professionals working in theatre to care and guide the next generation and show the making and performance of quality work to the best of our abilities.

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