Tusitala - Teller of Tales

Impressions of the Life and Writings of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Based on the words of Stevenson himself, his family and friends, acquaintances and critics. Extracts include Treasure Island, An Inland Voyage and Kidnapped. Devised to be staged as a rehearsed dramatised reading by a flexible team of performers, scripts are used, but some passages are best memorised. There are many opportunities for imaginative movement and action. Period costume would be a colourful option. This script is available in two versions with running times of 75 minutes and 1 hour 40 minutes.  
Tusitala - Teller of Tales  was specially written for the author's own drama group and received its first performance at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

Sample Scene

(Note: MR1 = First male reader. FR1 = Second female reader. 
FR2 = Second female reader. FR3 = Third female reader.)

FR3     In May, 1887, Robert Louis Stevenson made his last visit to Edinburgh. The reason was the death of his father.

MR1     "Louis is in mourning for his father and he was quite stylishly dressed, so that instead of looking like a Lascar out of employment as he generally does, he looked extremely elegant and refined. He prowled around the room in his usual noiseless panther fashion, talking all the time, full of wit and feeling and sweetness, as charming as ever he was, but with a little more sadness and sense of crisis than usual."

FR3     Now he was no longer tied to the shores of Britain. Doctors had recommended Colorado's mountain air, but there was the problem of leaving his widowed mother. She, too, had no ties, so she elected to accompany Louis, Fanny and Lloyd to America. On the 27^th August 1887, he left Britain for the last time. His reception in New York was in complete contrast with eight years previously. A stage version of Jekyll and Hyde was about to open. Treasure Island and Kidnapped were best-sellers. Reporters swarmed on board the ship the moment it docked.

MR4     "Our reception here was idiotic to the last degree. What a silly thing is popularity."

FR1     What is your object in now visiting America?

MR4     Simply on account of my health, which is wretched.

FR2     Where do you propose to go?

MR4     Well, the Lord only knows, I don't. I intend to get out of New York just as fast as I can. I like New York exceedingly. It is to me a mixture of Chelsea, Liverpool and Paris, but I want to get into the country.

FR3     The prospect of a journey to Colorado was too demanding for Stevenson's health so instead they headed for Saranac, a small logging village in the Adirondack Mountains in the north of New York State, where they rented a cottage.

MR4     "We have a house in the eye of many winds, with a view of a piece of running water - Highland, all but for the dear hue of peat - and of many hills - Highland also, but for the lack of heather. Soon the snow will close on us."

FR3     That winter, temperatures plummeted to forty below zero. While Louis enjoyed good health, Fanny suffered from various ailments, eventually absenting herself to San Francisco. Although far from home, he started another Scottish novel; The Master of Ballantrae. On arrival in America, he had received many tempting offers such as $10,000 a year from Joseph Pulitzer for a weekly contribution to World Magazine. More realistic, and much more tempting was an offer from Sam McClure, an expatriate Scottish editor.

MR1     "If you get a yacht and take long sea voyages and write about them, stories of adventure and so forth, I'll pay all the expenses."

The cast of the first production by the Mercators. Edinburgh Festival Fringe, August 2003

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