An Australian writer has persuaded London’s Natural History Museum to turn one of its galleries into a theatre to stage his acclaimed puppet show for grownups about the early adventures of Charles Darwin.

Following a sellout run in Brisbane, where the show was commissioned, David Morton’s The Wider Earth went on to play at the Sydney Opera House. Now it will be performed in the London museum’s Jerwood Gallery, not far from its Darwin centre, where many of the original specimens brought back by the naturalist are on display.

The gallery is being transformed into a 357-seat theatre in which, from 2 October until the end of the year, seven actors and 30 handmade puppets, including a huge Galapagos tortoise, will entertain audiences eight times a week.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Wider Earth’s author, David Morton, and Nick Paine, executive producer at the Dead Puppet Society. Photograph: NHM London

Professor Adrian Lister, a palaeobiologist at the museum, has advised Morton on the script, alongside the dramatist Sebastian Born. “The idea for the show came from work we were doing in South Africa with the Handspring Puppet Company,” said Morton. “We wanted to tell the story of the young man, Darwin, who went out on this incredible voyage, rather than of the older man with the grey beard we are all more familiar with. It was an extraordinary adventure for a 22-year-old to spend five years of his life on these travels. The show is about him wrestling with the issues raised by his discoveries.”

Three shows a week will be staged during the day for the patrons of the museum, which attracts 4.5 million visitors a year. Five further evening shows will start at 6.30pm after the main museum doors have shut.

“The piece is aimed at adults, so we advertise it for those aged 10 and over, but although it is quite long, it is not a lecture,” said Morton. “Lots of children will enjoy it too, even if some of the content goes over their heads.”