Pirates of the Curry Bean takes stage

Ishara Jayawardane

The Junior Section of Colombo International School (CIS) goes pirating this year with the heavy duty entertainment package Pirates of the Curry Bean which will be staged today and tomorrow at the CIS auditorium.

Written by the British writer Craig Hawes and set in the Caribbean Seas of the early 1700s, this spicy tale is full of thrills and laughter, guaranteed to have you in stitches!

This play is produced and directed by Gopitha Kiribandara; the Choral Director is Jayanthi Sivapragasam; the choreographers for this event are Shanika Weerasinghe and Lakmali Weerawardana.

“The Junior School students of the CIS will stage today and tomorrow the most dramatic concert - Pirates of the curry bean. It is a spicy story woven with full of action and laughter guaranteed. It is incredible to mention as to how the little masters perform. This concert no doubt be a prelude to many more successful events by these students,” said personal relations (PR) Consultant Sujatha Premaratne.

The cast has been able to showcase their talent in various aspects of performance such as acting, dance, music and even beat-boxing!

The story starts with the pirate / narrator Deadeye Dinghy as he relates the tale of the tragic loss of Captain Swaggersword, who disappeared many years ago leaving his chest of treasure hidden in a far and distant land.

The action then switches to the ‘squirty squid’, a dockside tavern in Old London Town, kept by the Periwinkle family – feisty landlady Pearl, her fun-loving twins Jack and Liza and their rat-catching cat, Fiddlesticks. The family is not left in peace however as they are overrun by Captain Redbeard and his band of dodgy pirates, who steal a treasure map off the safe and kidnap pearl.

It is up to the children to search for their ‘missing map and their missing mother’, as Deadeye poetically points out. Jack and Liza hire out their services as rat catchers to the resourceful Captain Cod and the hopelessly incompetent Admiral Hornhonker, in return for a free sea voyage to hunt for the pirates.

But… will anybody manage to outwit Redbeard and his gang and steal the map and the treasure?

Will the children find their mother?

Or will the pirates make them walk the plank?