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.
May and June 2016
Mackay, Cairns, Townsville, Toowoomba and Logan.
$45,819 – Playing Queensland Fund
“We all loved it… fast paced and lots of laughs” (Audience member, Cairns)
“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)
“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)
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.
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