All hands on deck for Unity swashbuckler

AARGH, JIM LAD: Unity Theatre director Norman Maclean sails forth in search of cast and crew for the company’s upcoming production of Treasure Island, a show based on Robert Louis-Stevenson’s much-loved adventure. Auditions will be held at Unity Theatre in Ormond Road on Sunday, January 24, at 4pm. Picture by Liam Clayton

An 18th century inn afroth with sailors and thieves, a creaking galleon with sea-faring fortune-seekers both gentlemanly and villainous, and a wild man’s island home is no place for women, but director Norman Maclean will change that for Unity Theatre’s next show.

Based on Robert Louis-Stevenson’s rollicking adventure Treasure Island, the company’s big cast production seeks actors and extras, male and female.

Auditions will be held at Unity Theatre in Ormond Road on Sunday, January 24, at 4pm. Persual scripts are available from Stephen Jones Photography.

While Treasure Island is largely a play for males, Maclean is keen to include women and Unity Youth Theatre girls who can tie their long hair into a tarry pig-tail, wear bandanas and can snarl and slash like born sea-dogs.

“The point is, we will need a lot of extras who will also be employed as stage crew,” he says.

“Major roles will mostly fall to adults, with stage experience or none – that’s where auditions help – and to some Youth Theatre enthusiasts. Many of them have bags of talent to exploit.”

The story is universally known and is rigged with memorable characters, says Maclean.

Some roles are small but highly significant.

Among notable characters who disappear after act one are Billy Bones and Blind Pew, who both die, and Black Dog, who might reappear later as a non-speaker.

“As a yarn it is superbly crafted and has wide appeal as family entertainment,” said Maclean.

It should be of interest to schools at every age level.

Treasure Island will be staged at the Lawson Field theatre in early April.