This Island’s Mine

Bristol-based family theatre company Roustabout have not been idle in the three short years since their inception, producing six critically lauded shows in that time under writer/director Toby Hulse, who has a well-earned reputation for making intelligent, fun and accessible theatre for young audiences.

Twice the winner of the Distinguished Play Award from the American Alliance of Theatre and Education, Hulse is a master at bringing young people into the world he is creating.

He uses the theatrical realm as a basis for further exploration, encouraging audience members to interrogate, understand and debate their own experiences, long after the curtain has fallen.

With This Island’s Mine, Roustabout focus their attention on the world of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, delving into themes of colonialism, identity and place, and how they may resonate in a contemporary setting – particularly in terms of immigration, colonisation, national identity and belonging.

Eleanor Pead and Robin Hemmings in This Island’s Mine, presented by Roustabout Theatre – photo: Craig Fuller

The production makes use of Brechtian and forum theatre tropes that serve to throw these contemporary reflections into sharper relief. Shakespeare’s island setting is always shifting in tone, from the comic to the tragic, the romantic to the political, the magical to the musical. Added to which, remarks Hulse, “it is almost perversely even-handed, asking questions without forcing answers on its audience”.

Within this absence of authorial moralising or finality, there is room for opinion, struggle, and ultimately a more human narrative to shine through.

In This Island’s Mine, Ariel represents one of the first peoples, Caliban a second-generation religious refugee, and Stephano a Western coloniser.

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?

Hulse’s production was first developed in the winter of 2019 and spring of 2020, and from the outset, he recalls that it felt like a play born in Bristol. “Although our play is universal in its themes,” he says, “it is in many ways uniquely Bristolian, and was inevitably informed by the city in which we were working, and the ways that it lives and thinks.

“Much of the strength and excitement of modern day Bristol comes from its amazing ethnic and cultural diversity, but, at the same time, much of the historic wealth and importance of the city is derived from the trade in enslaved Africans. As a consequence, Bristolians have an acute awareness of the ways that past and present intersect and inform each other, and how the actions of former citizens weigh on our shoulders today. Furthermore, it is a city with a conscience and a long and fine history of rebellion, protest, and civil action, always ready to make its voice heard.”

As spring turned to summer in 2020 and BLM protests swept the world, that consciousness was heightened further, and the subjects Roustabout were exploring with primary and secondary school children to develop their show had never seemed more pertinent.

“Then came the protests following the murder of George Floyd, and the extraordinary events and ongoing debates surrounding the toppling of the Colston Statue that gripped the world,” Hulse recounts. “Suddenly our Bristol-born play acquired a whole new global relevance and urgency.”

Robin Hemmings, Eleanor Pead and Kesty Morrison in This Island’s Mine, Roustabout Theatre – photo: Craig Fuller

Keen to ensure their production was at once vital, relevant, entertaining and multi-generational in appeal, Roustabout workshopped ideas and questions such as ‘where are you from?’, ‘what is home?’ and ‘why do people relocate?’ with approximately 200 children across Bristol schools, from the ages of six to 18. So what emerged from these discussions?

“What we discovered is that young people in this city are remarkably well-informed and interested, with strong opinions about what is right and wrong, but also with the willingness to explore others’ points of view. They did however feel that there was little or nothing in their school curriculum that directly addressed these issues, and reflected their personal experiences or diverse backgrounds.

“As one 15 year old put it, ‘we are told what to learn by old, white men, so that they can justify their positions in power’. It became very clear that not only could the younger members of our audiences handle and debate sophisticated arguments with skill and sensitivity, but that they really enjoyed doing so. As a result, our play is equally as challenging and entertaining as their debates.”

The company has toured This Island’s Mine to 25 local schools this year already, and will be welcoming further school groups to its upcoming run at Tobacco Factory Theatres, where audiences will Hulse hopes they will be “delighted, entertained, educated and challenged in equal measure”. Roustabout’s hope is to build on this foundation with further touring into 2022, and they are keen to partner with interested schools to secure the necessary funding.

This Island’s Mine (suitable for 7+) is at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol, BS3 1TF from Thursday, October 28 at 2pm with subsequent shows on October 29-31 at 11am and 2pm. There is a BSL interpreted performance on October 31 at 2pm. Tickets are available at www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com.

Main photo: Craig Fuller

Read more: The Selfish Giant comes to Tobacco Factory Theatres

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