The first edition only sold 3,000 copies; however, it is now 68^th on the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most objectionable books of the 20^th century. ‘Time’ magazine later said it was one of the best 100 modern novels ever.

In 1995, Nigel Williams adapted the book, producing the stage version that is now brought to you by the Harbour Theatre Inc., Harbour Theatre, within ‘Camelot’, 16 Lochee Street, Mosman.

The performance is two hours long and can be seen on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings until Saturday 6^th August at 7.30 pm, with Sunday matinees on Sunday 31^st July, Saturday 6^th and Sunday 7^th August at 2.00 pm.

The setting is an island (possibly in the Philippines?) during World War II. The stage is a sandy seashore. There is a lagoon on the stage apron. A mountain has been erected on each of the auditorium’s side aisles. The set has numerous palm trees, lianas and branches. A large piece of plane wing lies on the beach.

This is a difficult scene to create on the stage (designer Sarah Christiner, with construction co-ordinated by Brian Mahoney), but some very innovative ideas have been employed to give a most satisfactory result.

The complex lighting design was well thought out and operated by Aaron Smith. Evan ‘Zany Flash’ Skinner was in charge of the dramatic soundscape. His choice of threatening music was superb; throughout the play, there were also passages of low rumbling notes that shook the auditorium seats, giving a real sense of foreboding.

     We can hear the chatter of schoolchildren as they board a steam train taking them to the airport. It is World War II, so the children are being sent far away from home. There is the massive roar of powerful plane engines as the children head for safety. It is not long before we hear the plane, packed with boys from several schools, skydive onto a deserted island. None of the teachers survive.

     As self-assured survivor, Ralph (Niall Coyle) wanders the beach, where he meets a tubby, intelligent, but shy asthmatic boy, Piggy (Charlie Young). Then, from the bushes emerge a group of boys donned in full, choir-school uniform and black gowns; a bullyboy, Jack Merridew (David Heder), leads them. Jack is a school prefect who has a lot to say, yet seemed to be lacking in self-assurance. Ralph is chosen as leader of all the boys and they go searching for inhabitants and food.

     Aggressive Jack and his schoolmates, including the introverted and nervous Simon (Connor Brown), find a pig and Simon squirms as the others kill it. Even though they all feel empowered, Piggy announces that in order to retain harmony, only the person holding a conch shell that they have found, will be allowed to talk. Steeling Piggy’s spectacles to focus the sunlight, a fire is lit on the nearby hill, in hope that the smoke will be seen by passing ships. Unable to cope without his glasses, Piggy talks to twin brothers Sam (Lachlan Felstead) and Eric (Charlie Martin), two youngsters who finish each other’s sentences.

     The young boys, the ‘littluns’, Henry (Finn Mallett, alternates nights with Jacob Clayton), Bill (Shane Marshall) and Perceval (Elijah Styles, alternates with Luke Callaghan) go searching for food with one of the older boys, Maurice (Caelan Steedman) who being totally unaware of their dire circumstances, looks upon the whole disaster as a fun game, with him as an African Chief. They meet another young boy who staggers out of the bushes; he is Roger (Jamie Buttery) an aggressive boy with a mean streak.

     When Piggy berates Jack for allowing the fire to go out, Jack and his closest friend start their own group and move to the other side of the island where they become savages.

     Will the boys ever be rescued? Alternatively, is a terrible fate awaiting them? Will the illusive beast attack?

Paul Knight has an important cameo part.

Director Sarah Christiner must be brave or mad. Of all the easy plays she could have tackled, Sarah has chosen a serious, complex drama with a large cast of ‘children’. A play that requires a clear distinction between depravity and decency coupled with gut reaction and balanced thought.

Next, she was faced with producing a realistic jungle environment, and a team of young actors capable of coping with large chunks of the script, whilst convincingly depicting their subliminal fears and their descent into the darker side of nature. This play, although written 60 years ago, is still as relevant today with peer pressure still being a major controlling factor, featuring in a school kid’s life.

The boys, who were keen to do their own makeup, were instructed by Nicole Miller, Harry Wake and Kelci Coyle. It was subtle enough to look as though there were days of dirt built up on the boys’ bodies – although their parents may say it was there before.

Sarah employed the whole theatre as her stage. By surrounding the audience with actors, missiles and menacing sounds, the tension was raised a couple of notches. The boys were amazing, with most of them capturing their multifaceted characters completely. The play is two hours long, with almost every member of the cast on stage all of the time, and yet the boys maintained their drive and interaction perfectly. With a major climax at the end of the play, I was worried that they would run out of steam or lose some of their malice, but to their credit, they were word perfect and the chemistry wonderful. Perhaps a little more projection of the dialogue would help, but I saw the final rehearsal so it could have been nerves, as many of the actors have had little previous experience.

It is a most difficult play to stage, but thanks to a huge amount of work, the result was admirable. A good play for teenagers to see, warning them of how easy it is to be sucked in by society.

Director Sarah’s courage paid off wonderfully. Congratulations to all.

West wrote this play between babysitting two kids and working in a fish and chip shop; yet it was Winner of the 2014 Australian Theatre for Young People Foundation.

This well-presented play is being produced by Playlovers Inc., at the Playlovers’ Theatre (in Hackett Hall), Draper Street, Floreat. The performances are nightly at 8.00 pm until Saturday 28^th May. Last Sunday’s matinée with high tea was sadly cancelled – yet another victim of the storm power outage.

The scene is Trolley Towers, a magnificent hovel constructed on the dangerous outskirts of a city by the homeless kids of the area. Made from scaffolding, bicycle parts, old oil drums and air conditioning ducts; the result was a colourful and impressive work from the constructors, Richard Ferreira and Gordon Barnett. Additional artwork was by Amanda Simpson and the play stage managed by Cassidy Pemberton.

       A group of homeless children live on the city rubbish tip, they are happy, the best of friends and share everything equally; although the oldest girl, bossy Savage Kim (Sarah-Rose Kelly) seems to get a little more than her share.

     One day, Phlegm (George O’Doherty) points out that their supply of lights – jam jars with special glowing properties – are starting to run out. Living in the dark is a major risk. One day whilst playing with their friend, sensible Blue (Georgina Ferreira) and fun-loving River (Leo Rimmer) saw a small kid (Macy Waldram) explode and turn into coloured dust. What they did not know, was that an invisible ballerina, a Dust Collector (Atira Shack, Grace Brennan) had noticed the small girl’s fading lamp and exterminated her.

       Later that night, the youngest of the gang, caring Baby May (Gemma Vu) and Jones Boy (Prea Cunningham) were walking home when they saw another Small Kid (Jacob Clayton) explode. They were very frightened especially because of the haunting singing that seemed to be coming from drain or ditch. It was the beautiful voice of Lemon (Aimee Evans – her song was composed by Rodney Holborn).

     Jones Boy suspects that Lemon was in fact an ‘evil being’, a friend of the Dusters, sent to capture them. When another kid (Ella Simpson) explodes, then even Baby May is suspicious.

       Are the Trolley kids in danger and can they find some kind of magical help?

The other little dusters were Nils Soderstrom, Millie Muller, Emma Luckley, Kara Kelly, Charlotte Spencer, Vivian Whibley, Lizzy Zimmermann, Gabriel Zimmermann

Lighting designer and operator was John Woolrych, who produced a complex and impressive vision to enhance this creepy story.

The sound operators, Ruby Meegan and Bradley Fraser, were accurate with their timings. They also created a wonderful crunching and shattering sound as the Dusters carried out their malevolence.

Director Andie Holborn has done an admirable job with these youngsters. It took a few minutes for them to ‘warm up’ – perhaps a better pre-show routine may help – but once the children got into this fast moving story, they were all impressive. They were word perfect and their actions showed they understood the script and the emotions involved.

It was lovely to see children acting in a production that wasn’t twee. In fact it is many years since I have seen such a young cast faced with such a dramatic script. The age of the actors was probably between 10 and 15 years, and yet they managed to develop an admirable amount of tension and mystery.

Suitable for all of the family, although some younger children may need help with the concept. The actors can all be proud.