Ten of the Best Best Books to Introduce Children to the Theatre


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The best advice to anyone who wants to make theatre? ‘Life isn’t fair’ and ‘Be on time’, from actor Michael Simmonds. For those for whom the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd have an irresistible appeal (as participant or spectator), the following books, selected by Geraldine Brennan, offer a candid and enticing glimpse backstage, today or in the past.


National Theatre: All About


Theatre Walker Books, 978-1-4063-5869-8, £14.99 hbk


A substantial, classy guide with the high production values you would expect from this collaboration, exploring every aspect of theatre with reference to such recent successful National Theatre adaptations as War Horse, Treasure Island, Frankenstein and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The wig makers, set builders and stage managers who keep the show on the road add their voices alongside actors and directors. Designer Tim Hatley’s advice applies to all would-be theatre professionals. ‘Go and see things. Even if you think you’re not going to like it, just go. Also know that you want to tell stories.’


The Positively Last


Performance Geraldine McCaughrean, Oxford University Press, 978-0-1927-3321-4, £5.99 pbk


Geraldine McCaughrean has written many excellent tales about plays and players: try A Pack of Lies and Pull Out All the Stops! This novel, inspired by contact with Margate’s Theatre Royal, is contemporary but timeless, and both comic and tragic. As Gracie’s parents give up the struggle to revive their ailing theatre in a seaside resort, Gracie encounters the actors and audience of the past (including a soon- to-be famous painter, Mr Turner) who teach her why towns need theatres. A breathtaking twist and a touching denouement earn a standing ovation.


Impossible! Michelle Magorian, Troika Books, 978-1-9099-9104-0, £6.99 pbk


Part adventure tale starring a sparky


12-year-old East End acting student, Josie, this is also a celebration of Joan Littlewood’s achievement in bringing theatre to new audiences at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. It was published last year for the centenary of Littlewood’s birth and is set in the socially explosive, early 1960s London, with much evocative detail.


Josie struggles at her elitist theatre school until she is cast as a boy in a comedy, but her biggest break comes when a kidnapping subplot delivers her just where she needs to be: Littlewood’s stage.


The Diamond of Drury Lane Julia Golding, Egmont, 978-1-4052-3758-1, £6.99 pbk The 2006 Nestlé Children’s Book Prize winner is the first in a series of ripping yarns in which the 18th-century setting of Mr Sheridan’s Theatre Royal plays second fiddle to the real-life drama surrounding Cat, the foundling girl brought up in the theatre, and her friends and enemies. But there’s still fascinating detail about how this Covent Garden institution kept Londoners entertained in theatre’s glory days.


10 Books for Keeps No.215 November 2015


Olivia series Lyn Gardner, Nosy Crow, £6.99 pbk


Theatre critic Gardner presents the reality of 21st-century young people training for a life in theatre in a fun school-story format. Set in a stage school, with Olivia and her friends progressing through a term in each of seven books, the stories place themes such as jealousy and loyalty in a heightened context, with complex characterisation and all the charm of classics such as Ballet Shoes (see below).


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