Interview: Wee Stories - Big talent

Published on Friday 16 April 2010 14:26

DESPITE their name, there's nothing particularly wee about the stories which Edinburgh's award-winning Wee Stories bring to the stage – just look at their latest offering of Treasure Island, which is at the King's Theatre from Wednesday.

Robert Louis Stevenson's tale is one of the greatest pirate stories of them all, spawning more than 40 adaptations for film and television and attracting the likes of Bobby Driscoll, Orson Welles, Jack Palance and Charlton Heston to the roles of Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver.

But Treasure Island is more than an inspiration for Hollywood, with its pieces of eight, black spots and, of course, its one-legged sailor with a parrot on his shoulder, it has shaped the whole way we think about pirates.

If it is an old story in itself – first published in book form in 1883 it was RLS' breakthrough novel – it is not at all unfamiliar to Wee Stories' Iain Johnstone. He and Andy Cannon have been performing it as a two-handed show for more than a decade, with the most recent production some five years ago.

"It is like meeting an old friend," says Johnstone in a break from rehearsals. "If you haven't seen a friend for years, you have both gone through different experiences and are slightly different people.

"I didn't know how much we would change it, really. We had talked about changing bits and bobs, but we have ended up changing a lot more than we thought we would. We are that bit more experienced. We have done hundreds of shows in between these times so our tastes change and all kinds of things change. So we have changed it quite a lot."

The original idea of two musicians adrift on a raft, or as Johnstone insists, "one musician and a drummer," remains the same. They cling to Stevenson's story, as they cling to the raft, telling it to each other to keep body and soul together as they wait to be rescued. Part of the success lies in the way it seems to be semi-improvised, as if they are bringing it out of their imaginations anew.

If the years since its last production have been good to the company – they won critical acclaim with productions of The Emperor's New Kilt and Arthur: Story of a King – Johnstone says he loves the increased expectations that success brings. The aim, however, is not so much to match the scale of those productions, as take Treasure Island into theatres like The King's, where the show needs to be bigger in scale. "We've got a few audio visual effects in the show," admits Johnstone. "We are a little cautious of audio visual effects because people can use them too early, they don't use their imaginations.

"In the show we use AV effects to allow the audience to see the treasure map. It also allows us to tell a little bit of Captain Flint's back story."

As to why Wee Stories want to bring Treasure Island back just now, Johnstone is candid, "We have made a lot of work now and as yet haven't really been able to get that work abroad," he reveals. "We would like to show our work off abroad. As this is a two-hander, even though it is on a larger scale, we think it might be right. And as it is Stevenson and we are a Scottish company, we think that it might enable doors to open a bit more for us."

Forget Hollywood's efforts, this is one adaptation of RLS most famous story that is guaranteed to entertain.

Treasure Island, King's Theatre, Leven Street, Wednesday-Saturday, various times, 12, 0131-529 6000