"it’s been a joyous twenty-year ride for the two of us" | Writers Jake and Pippa have the wind in their sails
20 Nov 2025
We have a terrible confession to make. When we were first asked to adapt Treasure Island as a new stage musical, neither of us had actually read the novel itself. Having spent our childhoods obsessing over musical theatre, we must have somehow skipped Robert Louis Stevenson’s murderous tale of swash-buckling pirates and “shiver me timbers” in favour of putting on shows in our living rooms instead(!).
Yet in a book with 25-30 named characters, and a gruesome plot featuring brutal cold-blooded murders, we had our work cut out to make it a feelgood festive yarn with a cast of just eight actor-musicians.
We quickly realised – however – that Stevenson’s book was crammed full of quirky, iconic characters that we could easily put our own spin on.
The posh bumbling Squire, the charismatic Long John Silver, the dim-witted O’Brien – these were gifts of characters to write, not to mention making the marooned Ben Gunn a comic special for local comedian Jayde Adams, who believes that the island’s coconuts are her friends in one of the zaniest numbers we’ve ever written!
Though an earlier iteration of this show was first seen in Singapore a decade ago, Nancy Medina – artistic director of Bristol Old Vic – encouraged us to revisit our material, add five new songs and explore its darker side too. So we’ve gently probed the morality of what it means to be a pirate, when you’re ‘caught between the devil and the deep blue sea’ (as our Act 2 number states), or ‘sailing too close to the wind’ as the Doctor warns in Act 1.
Purists of the novel will notice we’ve added a small back story about Jim’s Father too, as we wanted to give Jim a deeper reason for embarking on her mission – and yes, we’ve made Jim a girl too!
Writing a show for Bristol Old Vic has been particularly special to us, as we first met as students twenty years ago at Bristol University.
Jake was studying Drama and Pippa was doing Music when a bright-eyed student in Jake’s drama class (Luke Sheppard, who has since gone on to be one of the biggest musical theatre directors in the world) suggested we take a show to Edinburgh Festival.
That musical – Jet Set Go! – launched our careers at the age of just 21, transferring for two sell-out off-West End seasons, and we’ve written together ever since.
From our very first writing session in the gorgeous column-fronted Victoria Rooms on Queens Road, to being here at Bristol Old Vic on King Street – it’s been a joyous twenty-year ride for the two of us and being back here has felt like a properly full circle moment.
Jake was actually a student rep for this theatre, and also attended scriptwriting sessions at Southwest Scriptwriters in this very same building. Just like 13-year-old Jim setting off from Bristol docks to seek her fortune, we feel lucky to have embarked on a career that started on ‘the triangle’ and somehow took us all the way to London’s glittering West End.
With the Llandoger Trow pub on this very street – said to have been the inspiration for the Benbow Inn in the book – it seems only right to head there afterwards and raise a glass of ale to this iconic Bristol story. Cheers!
Jake Brunger (book and lyrics) and Pippa Cleary (music and lyrics)
