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The 52 Storey Treehouse

What

Andy and Terry set off on a crazy adventure tackling a world of startling obstacles including a hungry caterpillar, an angry vegetable kingdom, and a 100-year ninja-snail epic voyage. Will they solve the mysteries and survive the dangers that test even their ingenuity?

As part of a 22-week premiere season and national tour, CDP Theatre Producers toured the play The 52-Storey Treehouse to regional communities in Queensland.

Written by Richard Tulloch and commissioned by CDP, the work was adapted from Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s bestselling book The 52-Storey Treehouse

The story follows Andy and Terry's adventures in the now 52 storey treehouse including a rocket powered carrot launcher, the Disguise-o-matic 5000 and even a Ninja Snail Training Academy. 

The production was targeted at young people aged 6 12 years and their families, and included music and puppetry. Resources for schools attending the show were also available including video resources and Q&A sessions and online forums.

 

Three actors on stage in The 52 Storey Treehouse

When

May and June 2016

Where

Mackay, Cairns, Townsville, Toowoomba and Logan. 

Key stats

  • 16 performances
  • 11 community engagement activities
  • 9 paid artists/arts and cultural workers
  • 10,356 attendees

Arts Queensland contribution

$45,819 – Playing Queensland Fund

Link

 
Outcomes

  • The tour exceeded audience goals with additional performances scheduled in Logan and Cairns due to high demand. 

“We all loved it… fast paced and lots of laughs” (Audience member, Cairns)

  • CDP deployed new approaches for digital engagement as part of this tour, including online Q&A sessions and digital education resources for schools, that will be refined for future tours.
  • The Treehouse book series are widely used books to promote reading among young audiences, particularly reluctant readers. A number of educators offered positive feedback regarding the show's ability to inspire children to read, driving further interest in the books.

“The students and teachers were very impressed with the show. It kept the kids’ attention and it was great how the actors really got into their roles” (Teacher, Toowoomba season)

  • Presenters reported a positive experience for audience members, schools and presenter staff. Discussions are underway between presenters and CDP productions to tour to venues involved in this tour in 2017 and/or 2018. 

“We have established a following from the very first Tree House production that was presented, and the same audience keeps coming back, but they bring others with them." (Presenter, Townsville season)

Three actors on stage

Learnings and reflections

CDP reflected on the positive result of engaging with presenters early:

Our methods of engaging with presenters also worked well; taking the time to engage in depth with multiple teams within presenter management well in advance resulted in better outcomes all round.

CDP also commented on the digital engagement opportunities, challenges faced and how they will be managing this in the future: 

We were pleased to offer a range of digital engagement opportunities around the production, but take-up from schools was lower than anticipated. While those schools that did participate responded very positively, further work is needed here to demystify the process of involvement for schools and to better articulate the benefits in the classroom. 

We will also do more work in future to explain the benefits of community engagement activities (digital or traditional) to presenters.

Contact for further information

CDP Theatre Producers 

Phone:  02 9011 5260

Website: http://www.cdp.com.au/52storeytreehouse.html

 

Image on Case study page: Alex Duncan and Jack Starkey-Gill in The 52 Storey Treehouse. Photo:Terry Murphy