Family show This Island's Mine visits The Egg

A playful and daring new family show, This Island’s Mine, which explores the place we choose to call home visits The Egg in Bath on Saturday 9th October with performances at 11.30am and 3pm.

Set in the magical and comic world of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, this vital new play for children aged 7 and over, encourages young people to explore complex and sensitive issues of colonisation, immigration and national identity: Where do I belong? Where is my home? Is it truly mine?

In early 2020, the Bristol-based theatre company Roustabout worked with 195 primary and secondary students to develop its new show which is informed directly by the thoughts and opinions of those students. This Island’s Mine is written and directed by Toby Hulse, who has twice won the Distinguished Play Award from the American Alliance of Theatre and Education. The cast includes Robin Hemmings as Caliban, Kesty Morrison as Ariel and Eleanor Pead as Stephano. 

Blending Brechtian and Forum Theatre techniques that encourage the audience to think, question and challenge, This Island’s Mine focuses on a debate between three inhabitants of an island - one of the first peoples (Ariel), a second generation religious refugee (Caliban) and a Western coloniser (Stephano) - who all believe the island is theirs. Ariel was always here. Caliban was born here. And Stephano has just arrived. They all claim ‘this island’s mine’. But do any of them have that right? And what happens if they can’t agree? 

At a time when young people are questioning closely their own experiences, identities and education, the play's themes are more pressing than ever. The production is supported by an online educational resource, created with experts, academics, creatives and young people, designed to challenge, provoke, and stimulate debate around these difficult but essential questions.

Roustabout is a Bristol-based family theatre company who have produced six highly acclaimed productions since forming in 2018, including the OFFIE nominated digital production of Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish. Writer/director Toby Hulse has worked with The Egg, Bristol Old Vic, The Old Rep, Pickled Image, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Travelling Light and the Unicorn Theatre. Toby is an expert when it comes to making work for young audiences, as seen in his productions of The Lost World and War Game and his adaptation of Around the World in Eighty Days (Bristol Old Vic), and his international touring production of One Small Step (Oxford Playhouse).

This Island’s Mine visits The Egg at the Theatre Royal Bath on Saturday 9th October. Tickets are on sale at The Egg on 01225 823 409, the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk