5-8 March 2025 in the Reading Room, Ovingham
Shiver me timbers! For our annual springtime pantomime, Ovingham Drama Group presented a new arr-tistic production of Robinson Crusoe by Alan Frayn – this time with pirates!
In distant Brazil, Robinson Crusoe dreams of making his fortune and winning the hand of the lovely Juanita. And then, in the twinkling of an aye, he finds himself hired for a voyage by Juanita’s father, the trusty Captain Seasalt, and all his dreams seem to have come true.
But life is (k)not smooth sailing for Robinson, and soon our intrepid hero finds himself adrift upon stormy seas. From his home on the seabed, Davy Jones bubbles and foams with cunning schemes to drag Robinson into his locker, while Cut-Throat the pirate and his sidekicks Skull-Duggery and Cross-Bones pursue a lost treasure by hook, crook, pegleg, and eyepatch. Before long, caught between the red-eyed pirates and Davy Jones’s blue depths, Crusoe is marooned on a desert island, while his friends are held captive by Mumbo-Jumbo, the cannibal queen with a hunger for tender human flesh…
Aided by the Spirit of the Seas, Polly the brave parrot, and his new friend Friday, can Crusoe rescue his friends, defeat their many enemies and find their way back to Brazil and to fortune? A jolly audience joined us in March over four performances to find out. (Oh yes, they did. ARR!)
Performances details
We put on four productions of Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates: three evening shows at 7.30pm on 5, 6, and 7 March, and a special Saturday afternoon children’s matinee at 1.30pm on 8 March.