The Cotswold Players, who are looking forward to their rip-roaring production of the classic pirate adventure story “Treasure Island” this month, have just discovered “buried treasure” themselves.

A search in the Playhouse theatre’s archives has found photos, press cuttings and other memorabilia from the last time they performed the show more than fifty years ago.

Production photos reveal a much sparser set than playgoers will experience in this year’s production, a large cast which involved them calling up every available male actor, and even a search to find a parrot to sit on Long John Silver's shoulder.

However, the Players are confident that their award-winning new version of the story will be better received by today’s audiences

Back in 1967 the show was panned by the fierce theatre critics of the day as being too much like a pantomime in nature with “over-gaudy pirates” and “shouted” dialogue, although one did praise it as being “a bold attempt”.