Treasure Island
Productions:
Treasure Island
Sherlock Holmes and The Thief of Antiquity
The Wind in the Willows
Animal Farm
Lashings of Ginger Beer
Macbeth
The Wizard of Oz
Frankenstein
Pinocchia
The Railway Children
The Tempest
A Christmas Carol
Winchester: The First…
A King's City Christmas
Changes
4 Calling Birds
It’s A Wonderful Life
A Christmas Cornucopia
Around The World In Eighty Days
The Selfish Giant
Much Ado About Nothing
Grimm Tales
Tales From The Arabian Nights
The Snow Queen
The Hotel
The Happy Prince
Hamlet
Living Without Fear
The Government Inspector
Captain Miserable & The Book Guardian
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The first five years…
Photo by Peter Sillick
Graphic Design
Printing
Tea-Towel
Photography
Richard Williams
Diguru Limited
Meshtex
Mike Hall
Reviews
“Costumes by Polly Perry, along with the excellent pub designed set by Mark Pyke, bring the swashbuckling adventure to life. The attention to detail is as ever outstanding.”
“This wasn’t just a retelling of a familiar adventure but a vibrant, inclusive production that reworked Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale through humour, heart, and audience interaction—proving from the outset that this was going to be something rather special.”
“The characterisation from the whole cast was fantastic, with so much attention to detail, even when performers were not in the spotlight. It was lovely to see so many of the cast speaking solo lines and having their moment. Every corner of the stage felt alive, rewarding audiences who looked beyond the central action.”
Director's notes
Blue Apple has a reputation of tackling classics in a new and interesting way. We always go right back to the source material and then think of some new take on the old story. We respect the original but we don't revere it. We hope this fresh adaptation of Stevenson's novel keeps that tradition alive.
This show throws our performers a new set of acting challenges; not only are most of them on stage for virtually all of the show, but almost all also have two characters to play. It takes an imaginative leap with the people Robert Louis Stevenson brought to life in his book and reframes the whole tale, asking "what is truly of value in our lives?" and "what does a real adventure look like?"
Our company has been telling tales since 2005, and last year became part of Minstead Trust, joining a community of over 350 other neuro-disabled people.
We still create ambitious large-scale pieces for a diverse cast which, thanks to the magic of livestreaming, are watched widely. We make work that lives beyond its original life – our version of Animal Farm from 2023 has now been performed by other casts in the UK as well as in the USA and South Africa. Our outreach programme now works with more neuro-disabled people than ever before and, like most 21-year-olds, it feels as if there is a bright future ahead.
Richard Conlon
Cast
Old Jim Hawkins
Dr Livesey
Mr Smith and Pirate
Mrs Hawkins
Billy Bones
The Reverend
Long John Silver
Mrs Smith and Pirate
Young Jim Hawkins
The Landlady of The Admiral
The Landlord of The Admiral
Black Dog
Mr Hawkins
Ben Gunn
Arrow
Israel Hands
Blind Pew
Captain Smollett
Squire Trelawney
Neil Maddock
James Benfield
Neil Bennet
Anna Brisbane
Andy Canning
Jane Chadwick
Sam Dace
Ros Davies
Katy Francis
Jennie Grover
Tom Hatchett
David Hunt
Finn Kitchen
Alice Peck
Jeff Turner
Mary Richards
Katie Alexander
George Collingwood
Teddy Gameson
Admiral regulars
Zak Marklew, Kym Nash, Ben Tyler, Chris Pearce, Kym Nash
Pirates
Neil Bennet, Ros Davies, Ali Sinclair-Williams, James Spencer, Neil White, Sue Dashper, Daniel Austin, Tom Beacham, Richie Davies, Jonny Ling, Grant Powell, Rachel Collins, Michelle Pluck
Crew
Polly Perry
Django Pinter
Mark Pyke
Mark Pyke
Jamie Ball
Becki Nation and Caspian Nation
Rebecca Godden and Richard Conlon
Richard Conlon and the cast
Richard Conlon and Rebecca Godden
Costumes
Audio Visuals and Surtitles
Scenic Design and Construction
Lighting Design and Production Management
Lighting Design
Live Music
Original songs created by
Written by
Directed by
Gallery
Images below from rehearsal by Mike Hall
Images from dress rehearsal by Peter Sillick
Performances
Blue Apple Theatre’s Treasure Island was performed at Theatre Royal Winchester in 2026
Wednesday 10 June at 7.30pm
Thursday 11 June at 12pm
Thursday 11 June at 7.30pm
Livestream webcast performance
Thursday 11 June at 7.30pm
A subtitled recording of this will be made available on our YouTube channel in due course.
Feedback
Audience feedback was extremely positive with an average of 99% enjoyment and 98% quality scores in our feedback questionnaire responses. Here are some of the top words the audience used to describe the show.
Six lovely quotes from the audience:
"Made me understand more that disabilities don't limit acting skills."
"Wonderful to have an inclusive group for all needs and abilities."
"The dedication of all concerned is amazing."
"Always one of the best parts of my year. Another phenomenal show!"
"It was a quality show."
"Absolutely loved it."
Some audience comments on social media:
"Absolutely brilliant show tonight via livestream. Congratulations to everyone involved – you should be proud of yourselves."
"Brilliant show, superb cast and a fabulous opening night. Huge congratulations to everyone at Blue Apple for showcasing such talent and creativity in Treasure Island. We absolutely loved it."
"The performance was fantastic. Well done to everyone involved."
Feedback via email:
"Wendy and I really enjoyed Blue Apple's performance of Treasure Island at the Theatre Royal and would love to come to another Blue Apple performance. We look forward to meeting you all again soon." — Cllr Jamie Scott, Mayor of Winchester
"The production was a wonderful achievement. Managing such a large cast on stage is no small undertaking, yet the performance was delivered with confidence, energy, and enthusiasm throughout. The cast should be immensely proud of what they accomplished. Their commitment was evident in the way they learned their lines, worked together as an ensemble, and performed with such confidence and conviction. Above all, the production demonstrated the transformative power of theatre to build confidence, develop skills, and bring people together." — Cllr Sudhakar Achwal, Councillor for Whiteley and Shedfield
"We enjoyed Treasure Island enormously. Thank you very, very much for a really professional, happy and inclusive performance. It was so good to see so many performers on the stage at the same time enjoying acting." — D.C., performer parent
Acknowledgements
Blue Apple’s Treasure Island has been made possible through financial support from the National Lottery Awards for All and the generous in-kind support provided by the University of Winchester.
