Senio Drama Production

[horn sound effect] The ship has sailed!

Last week we bid farewell to the 2026 Senior Drama Production of Treasure Island, an adaptation of the well-known novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Held on Thursday the 20th and Friday the 21st of August, we are proud to announce that we had a huge turnout – we sold 249 tickets across the two nights! We would like to express our gratitude towards the FSHS P&C for their ongoing support.

This year the play was the precious brain-child of everyone in the cast. That’s right – we wrote the whole play, complete with mutinies, mayhem, and Fort Street jokes galore! A big shout out to the Year 11 Drama class, Nea T, Linus H and Mr Reveleigh who made the biggest contribution to making sure our script was ship-shape.

And it wasn’t just the script that was new – this year audiences entered the venue to find a traverse stage, faced by seating on both sides (imagine a catwalk down the middle of the hall – and a life-size ship on the other side!). A massive thanks to the student set and props team who worked tirelessly to bring the stage to life, and especially Belinda and Ryan Mestric, who helped us make the ship!

In case you’re curious about the play, here’s a rundown! In it (warning: spoilers! – oh wait, it’s over…) audiences meet Jim Hawkins (Nea T) along with original characters Billie Bones Junior (Elliot S) and Pages (Nainika K), who live in an island tavern with their guardian Granny Barbosa (Sacha A) and bemoan their boring innkeeper lives. However, their boredom is soon washed away when they come face-to-face with grizzled ghost Billy Bones Senior (Gabriel C S) and discover that not only is the ghost Billie’s dad, he’s also been witness to a mutiny, along with the knowledge that a map to treasure may soon pass into pirates’ hands!

Eager to save the day (and perhaps a little too eager to go on an adventure – the same-old island taverns can get a little dull) the trio join the crew of the newly christened Gaudeamus Rigitur, led by Captain Smollett (Alina Z) and her trusty bird Squawks (Bella V). But honest sailors aren’t the only ones onboard – they quickly discover that half the crew is pirates, led by the evil galley-cook-slash-pirate-captain Long John Silver (Lucinda M). Though things get tough – the pirates mutiny, they fight, they find a Fort and long-lost crewmate Ben Gunn (Genevieve M) who found the treasure (but couldn’t remember where he put it…) – with the power of surprisingly good swordsmanship, squeaky chickens, Pokemon battles and friendship, the trio return to their island victorious and with plenty of treasure!

Highlights of the performance were the sea shanty (with student-written lyrics), Granny Barbosa’s dramatic transformation into a bearded pirate, the boisterous pirates, the Pokemon battle between the honest sailors, and of course, we can’t forget the squeaky-chicken fight x tango battle in the Mutiny (the second one out of four) also filled with spectacular swordfighting, choreographed by Gabriel C S and Elliott S.

But of course, you cannot make a fine ship sail without a strong wind and good timber.

First, the cast: they were incredible, rehearsing weekly from 3:15pm to 5pm every Wednesday since Term 4 last year to get the production up and running – they are all amazing and deserve a rest!

A massive thanks to the Costume and Make-up Team led by Genevieve M for the epic and diverse costumes paired with piratey scars (courtesy of Audrey L and Elizabeth U). These were lit up in full thanks to the hard work of the Lighting and AV team, featuring brand new drama light installations in the Hall.

Let’s not leave out the band – conducted by Hugo N. They led epic fighting scenes and moody transitions with flair. A massive shout out to Hugo especially – along with managing band rehearsals on Wednesdays weekly, he wrote and arranged all of the music for the play, and we couldn’t be more thankful for his above-and-beyond work.

Finally, like a supportive wind in the ship’s sails, were the reliable Mrs Thompson (our backstage manager), and Mr Reveleigh (our drama teacher, director, rehearsal manager, and all-round support person). Their hard work has been mindblowing, and we want to give a big thanks for everything they’ve done. We’d also like to thank Ms Morosin, Ms Propsting and Ms Mattick for setting us on the journey, though they’ve now left for their own new horizons.

There were also numerous staff members involved, all of whom made a great impact on the play. Full credits to them and more photos of the production (scroll to the end!) can be found in our digital program: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dvVE8j26EU3bWLRZLkZKLq7pcARxguC2/view?usp=sharing

We hope everyone enjoyed the play – look forward to the next Senior Drama Production, Fort Street!

By Lucinda Man (Year 11 Drama class, 2026)