Duration: 60′ as a musical, 45

  • An eco musical or cantata
  • Text: Sarah Dawson
  • 7 solo parts, chorus from 20 upwards
  • Three different instrumentations – piano, clarinet and percussion, or flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion or for full orchestra
  • Gemini Publications
  • Commissioned by Combe Bank School
  • First performance March 1993  |  Soloists, chorus and band from Combe Bank School, conducted by Georgina Roberts  |  Combe Bank School, Kent
  • Featured on Blue Peter

Allusions to Shakespeare’s King Lear are not coincidental.

There’s been a bungle in the jungle! King Leo is getting old; his sight is not as good as it was and his stamina is declining. He makes the decision to take a sabbatical from his rainforest responsibilities. What he needs is a place in the sun to rejuvenate and revitalise. He divides his kingdom between Panther, honourable but a bit too upfront with the truth, and Tiger, a rampant rascal who is out to make a fast buck. Tiger reveals a penchant for property development by cutting down the forest and selling to the highest bidder. Naturally, the animals are wild with worry.

Will Tiger make the take-over total or will Panther save the day, the forest and the planet ..?