Dear Megan,



Thank you for your message.



There are two versions of my adaptation of THE WITCHES.



First, the full version, as performed professionally and by amateur companies. This is published by Samuel French Ltd.



You can obtain it from them. I think it costs around £6.95. Ring them on 020 7387 9373



There is also the Puffin book, THE WITCHES: PLAYS FOR CHILDREN. For this book I adapted my own adaptation! I simplified the staging somewhat, and turned the one play into several short playlets, highlighting the different scenes in the play. This version has proved popular in schools.



You can obtain it through any bookshop. The ISBN no. is 0-14-131084-7.





All good wishes, and good luck with it.



Yours sincerely,



David.

Dear Laura,

Thank you for your message.  And for your interest in THE GINGERBREAD MAN. Two videos were released, and, more recently, a DVD. I think your best bet is to look on Amazon, where copies are regularly available, both new and used.  You might also look on ebay. When searching, the title plus my name plus animation/tv series usually yields results!  But if you have any problems, come back to me and I will go on line for a search and then try to respond to your request in more exact detail!

All good wishes, David

Dear Robin,



Ring Samuel French Ltd.on 020 7387 9373 and ask to speak to the amateur department. Tell them what you want and they will suggest ideas. Or look them up on the internet. They list their plays.



Or go to Google and tap in 'children's pantomime scripts' and see what comes up.



Of my own plays, LADY LOLLIPOP might work. Or one of my other plays for children to perform. See my website!



Best wishes, David.

Dear Manda,



Sorry to hear about this problem! Can you have a section of material representing the tar? Maybe it could be on a frame, with the edges painted to looked like paving stones? Or a couple of traffic cones marking the area might create enough of an illusion.



Good luck with it! Hope your director doesn't go too mad!



Yours



David

Dear Isabel,



I am glad you like my Roald Dahl adaptations. His imaginative stories really do work well on stage, although they are not always the easiest to adapt!



To do THE BFG in the round will be a challenge, but it is certainly not impossible, I don't think! I don't know of any other productions that have done it this way!



I am afraid there is no video available, but if you want to get in touch when you are in London, maybe we could meet up and talk about it. Or will you have already have produced the play?!



You might find it helpful to look at not only the Samuel French edition, but also the Puffin book THE BFG: PLAYS FOR CHILDREN, in which I have slightly simplified things staging-wise, so that children can perform the plays in school or in drama groups.



Something else I should tell you - there are now two accepted versions of THE BFG. The original one takes place as a play within a play at a child's birthday party. The second version, which is called the Seattle version, omits the framing device. I can probably organise a copy of this for you via Samuel French if you want it.



When you come to London, my adaptation of TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN will be on at the brand new Unicorn Theatre, which is opening that very month - November! It is near Tower Bridge, on the Thames.



Good luck with your studies!



All good wishes,



David Wood

Dear Karen Roberts,



Thank you for your message. Unfortunately, there is no video of THE GINGERBREAD MAN available. There was a television version of the stage play, which was shown on Channel 4 in the UK. I would love to see this released on video and will make enquiries.



I do have copies available of the audio cassette. Maybe they still have some at NYSTI.



THE GINGERBREAD MAN will be 30 years old in 2006! I am hoping very much to mount a production of the play in London to celebrate!



All good wishes,



David Wood

David Wood

Dear David



You are absolutely right. I was one of the presenters of the JACKANORY presentation of THE HOBBIT. It was a special event, because the story was spread over 2 weeks (10 episodes), to celebrate (I think) the 2000th edition of JACKANORY. Normally, as you will remember, only one presenter told the story. For THE HOBBIT we had four. Bernard Cribbins, Maurice Denham, Jan Francis and myself. We had great fun doing it. Maurice, who died not long ago at an advanced age, was the ultimate radio actor, who was also pretty wonderful on screen! He was brilliant at doing different voices. Jan was probably best known then for her work in children's serials.



We recorded the programmes at the old Lime Grove studios. I think we shot them all over a weekend. I remember we found out that GRANDSTAND was going out live in the studio next door, presented by Des Lynham. Bernard and I, very naughtily (!), crept into the studio and were tempted to help out with the football results ...



My other enduring memory is that I had to sit on a low rostrum covered with what appeared to be earth! I kept having the distinct impression of ants in my pants, or worse!



Some years ago we were all approached to see if we would be willing to allow a video of THE HOBBIT to be released. As far as I know the project never got off the ground because the copyright holders wouldn't allow yet another version to come on the market. Perhaps the tapes still exist somewhere! It would be fun to see how it stands up ...



All good wishes,



David

Dear Christine Rees,



Delighted to hear that your company might like to put on, for the second time, a production of HIJACK OVER HYGENIA. This is one of my favourites, but it doesn't get done enough, in my view!



I am very happy for the word HIJACK to be changed to HIJINX. As you say, this has been done already, and I am quite sure there will be no problem if you apply as usual through Samuel French and mention to them the fact that we have corresponded about it.



In fact I may contact them anyway and remind them of what happened when we last received this request!



Good luck with it!



All good wishes,



David

Dear Hermann,



Thank you for your message, which brought back happy memories of the summer of 1980! I was particularly happy to be working at Chichester, because I was at school in this city, and watched the theatre as it was being built! Then, in the second season, in 1963, I was an extra in two plays.



Terra Nova was, as you say, written by Ted Tally, a young Canadian writer, who later found fame as the writer of the screenplay of the movie SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. The play was directed by Peter Dews and designed by Pamela Howard. The lighting was particularly effective, I think. It was designed by Mick Hughes. By coincidence, he and I worked together in the late 60's, in a small regional theatre in Worcester. In fact he directed two of my early children's plays, THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT WENT TO SEE ... and THE PLOTTERS OF CABBAGE PATCH CORNER.



The cast was as follows:



Captain Robert Scott - Hywel Bennett

Roald Amundsen - Benjamin Whitrow

Kathleen Scott - Helen Ryan

Lieutenant Henry Bowers - David Wood

Dr. Edward Wilson - Martin Sadler

Captain Lawrence Oates - Peter Birch

Petty Officer Edgar Evans - Christopher Neame



The play was very well received, and we all hoped it would transfer to London. Unfortunately this never happened and, although there have been a couple of productions since, the play has remained largely unknown in the UK. A shame, because I think it is a very imaginative and theatrical version of the true story.



All good wishes,



Yours sincerely,



David

Dear Annika Cederborg,



Thank you for your enquiry.



Are you talking about the animation series THE GINGERBREAD MAN? If so, I will ask my agent who is responsible for its distribution. 13 episodes were made by FilmFair.



The original play upon which the series was based was televised in the UK by Channel Four. If you are thinking of this programme, which uses actors performing the play as if in a theatre with children watching and responding, let me know and I can make similar enquiries.



All good wishes,



Yours sincerely,



David Wood

Dear Namesake!



Delighted to hear from you. I'm afraid our name is pretty common, isn't it? In the UK there are at least two other writers, specialising in work for children, with the name David Wood!



However, I was delighted to hear from you, because a couple of years ago I had a very happy few days in your home town. Albuquerque Little Theatre invited me to do some talks and workshops. They have presented a couple of my plays including BABE, THE SHEEP-PIG. I much enjoyed meeting Larry Parker, who runs the theatre, and many of his associates and performing members and students. It is a splendid theatre and a splendid town! Great hospitality!



All good wishes,



Another David Wood

Dear Stacie Toups,



Thank you for your message. I am very pleased that you are doing a production of TICKLE. This play certainly seems to work well.



The reason why the number of actors in the original production was so small is that it was a professional company who could not afford to pay more than half a dozen actors! The play was also written so that actors can play several parts.



However, it is much more fun to have a large cast, particularly if your actors are children. So you are doing exactly the right thing.



I am afraid there is no CD available of the music. It is just in sheet music form. The tunes are very simple, and could be sung unaccompanied, or with percussion accompaniment. They might even be spoken in rhythm in a kind of rap style.



Let me know how it goes! Very good luck with it.



Best wishes,



David

Dear Thomas,



Thank you so much for your message. It's great that you enjoy the Roald Dahl plays. And I am interested to hear that you saw the two different productions of JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. It always is interesting to me how different productions can be, even when they are using the same script! That's one of the exciting things about theatre.



Maybe one day soon you will be in one of the plays. I am sure you will enjoy it.



I have just heard that my adaptation of DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD will be starting a long tour in 2006. I hope you will be able to see it!



Also, you may be interested to know that my adaptation of TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN is due to open the brand new Unicorn Theatre in London in November.



All good wishes,



Yours



David

Dear Jonathan,



Many thanks for your message.



I was delighted to hear that you were a fan of CHISH 'N' FIPS. You must have been one of the few to have the annual. Unfortunately it was not an annual at all, it only came out once!



Incidentally, I don't think you saw the show at Unicorn. Probably you saw it at Sadler's Wells.



Fancy you helping me in my MAGIC AND MUSIC SHOW! Next month the show goes on tour in Scotland! I don't think it has changed much since your day!



Now, on to your main point ... DOWN UPPER STREET. I think the King's Head were exaggerating a bit! The credits of the revue were as follows. Cast: Christopher Dunham, John Gould, Joyce Rae, James Warwick and The London Black Theatre (I don't remember exactly what they did!).



The show was directed by Teddy Rhodes who, I think, worked for Thames Television.



The show was written by John Gould, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and myself, with music by John Gould.



I seem to remember that most of the sketches were not new. They had been done in various revues at Oxford and after. Mike and Terry were virtually contemporaries of ours (Gould and Wood) - we had all been involved with HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD AND DIE. And after leaving Oxford, Mike and Terry, with music by Gould, wrote a pantomime - ALADDIN - for the Palace Theatre, Watford, Christmas 1967. John Gould was in the pit playing the piano and I was playing Wishy Washy! It was directed by Giles Havergal, who later went on to great success at the Citizens', Glasgow. Also in the cast were Amanda Barrie and Maureen Lipman.



I had nothing to do with the rehearsals of DOWN UPPER STREET, and I don't have a copy of the script. John Gould is very good at keeping things and has created his own archive. Why don't you drop him a line and ask him for more information?


I will e-mail you his address.



All good wishes,



David