<p>Following the National Theatre&apos;s success with plays based on novels by well-loved children&apos;s writers like Philip Pulman (<b><i>His Dark Materials),</i> </b>Jamila Gavin (<i><b>Coram Boy) </b></i>and Michael Morpurgo (<b><i>War Horse</i></b>), the National now stages Mark Ravenhill&apos;s exhilarating adaptation of Terry Pratchett&apos;s witty and challenging adventure story in a major Christmas production for 2009.<br /><br />A parallel world, 1860. Two teenagers thrown together by a tsunami that has destroyed Mau&apos;s village and left Daphne shipwrecked on his South Pacific island, thousands of miles from home. One wears next to nothing, the other a long white dress; neither speaks the other&apos;s language; somehow they must learn to survive. As starving refugees gather, Daphne delivers a baby, milks a pig, brews beer and does battle with a mutineer. Mau fights cannibal Raiders, discovers the world is round and questions the reality of his tribe&apos;s fiercely patriarchal gods. Together they come of age, overseen by a foul-mouthed parrot, as they discard old doctrine to forge a new Nation.</p>