Wee Stories' Treasure Island preview in the Herald, by Mary Brennan

Spinning a desert island delight

by Mary Brennan


Published on 5 Apr 2010

Andy Cannon is talking pirates.

Well actually, he’s enthusing about them in a happy overdrive of facts and fictions. Speculating, between times, on the appeal of a really good baddie – why is it that scoundrels and robbers seem to gain in allure once they weigh anchor and go pillaging on the high seas? And though Captain Jack Sparrow does enter into the conversation, with a thumbs up for the first (but definitely not the second or the third) film in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, it’s Long John Silver, the wily one-legged buccaneer in Treasure Island, who is most on Cannon’s mind.

Wee Stories, in other words Cannon and long-time collaborator Iain Johnstone, are about to revive the company’s hugely successful version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling tale. Johnstone is revisiting his inner, piratical self: he reckons Long John Silver is the hero, OK maybe the anti-hero, in the book. Cannon, meanwhile, is flexing his memory, and his muscles, as he reconnects with the energies of Jim Hawkins, the lad he maintains is the real, the true, hero. So there.

And there you have the makings of a good going spat that will bring the book to life, not as a dutiful narrative but as an adventure into who we are, what sides we’d take in certain circumstances, which character we’d want to have as a friend. Cannon has to laugh. Because the partisan passions that flared up when he and Johnstone first worked on the piece in 2001 haven’t dulled down or shifted ground across the years. And subsequent productions have seen the pair build on the bantering rapport that (mostly) casts Johnstone as the numpty and Cannon as the smart Alec – a relationship seen to memorable effect in stagings of Arthur, The Story of a King, Jock and the Beanstalk and The Emperor’s New Kilt to name but three of their popular hits. But the humour and playful interactions of their nifty, much-loved double-act were sparked by Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Going back to it now is a bit like visiting an old friend.

“We do describe this piece as a labour of love for us,” says Cannon. “We liken it to this old VW van that we hold onto in the garage. From time to time we go in and tinker about with it, tune it up, then we get in and drive round in the sun for a bit.”

The forthcoming drive in the sun is a tour that kicks off next week at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, takes in various venues north and south of the border before ending up in London on June 12.

As for the tinkering... Fans who remember the show from previous incarnations can rest easy: changes are relatively minor and, according to Cannon, are “more to do with us not being as young and supple as we were. The show is still as physically demanding - but maybe we don’t do things quite as we did before.”

He then comes disarmingly clean with the information that the tea-chest on the raft has been adjusted. “We’ve made a new one that’s just a wee bit bigger so as I can get out of it. It’s not the waistline - it’s my knees! I don’t have Jim Hawkins’s knees any more!”

By way of information for those who haven’t seen Wee Stories’ Treasure Island, the action takes place on board a raft. Two musicians - in full evening suits, with a hint of 1930’s elegance - have been shipwrecked and are now afloat with a clutter of stuff, but precious few of life’s essentials. Never best mates when all was plain sailing, the duo are now locked into a close proximity that could lead to madness or murder or both. There is, however, a lifeline that will help rescue their sanity and help them to survive their ordeal: a copy of Treasure Island. Escaping into Stevenson’s story, they side with specific characters and re-enact events that see young Jim not just ducking in and out of tea chests but discovering puzzling truths about the adult world and that duplicitous charmer Long John Silver in particular.

“Every time Iain and I go back to Stevenson’s story, we find new things in it,” says Cannon. “And sometimes we’re just taken aback by how brave, how radical, it was for its time. We can hardly believe it was written and published in the 1880’s. Or that some people thought it was just - just! - a book for children. Apart from Stevenson’s qualities as a writer, you have an amazing story about a boy who meets this incredibly clever, complex man who he thinks he can trust - so really, it’s a book that is timeless and a book that can say something to adults, as well as children, about values, about trust, about what makes a ‘goodie’ or what makes a ‘baddie.’”

For Wee Stories, the real treasure is the book itself. So audiences will find a new, special Wee Stories edition of Stevenson’s novel is now available, complete with eye-catching skull and cross-bones on the cover.

The company website - http://www.weestoriestheatre.org/ - harbours a wealth of video-clips and further details of the tour.

Treasure Island is at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, from April 13 – 17, times vary.

See: Treasure Island preview in the Herald