Dame Julia Donaldson, creator of The Gruffalo, has expressed her hope that the stage adaptation of her beloved children's book will serve as an introduction to live theatre for both children and adults. The story of a clever mouse outwitting a fearsome monster with purple prickles was first published in 1999, and the theatre production marks its 25th anniversary this year with a run at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End as part of a UK tour.
Bridging Books and Theatre
Dame Julia, who was made a dame in the King's birthday honours for services to literature earlier this year, told the Press Association: "It's a nice link between theatre and reading. There must be a lot of people, I'm sure, who go and see the show because they know the book and like the book or books. But then equally there must be some people who read the book because they've been to the theatre."
She added: "Pantomimes are all very well but there can be quite risque jokes specifically for the adults, and in a show like this, it's not like 'this bit is for the adult, this bit is for the children'. I think it's brilliant that children have been introduced to theatre at the young age."
Global Reach of The Gruffalo
The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child have sold more than 18 million copies combined, with translations into 115 languages and dialects. The stage show, which first premiered in the UK in 2001, has travelled to 18 countries and been translated into seven languages, reaching an audience of over three million people.
Dame Julia, 77, has sold more than 50 million books worldwide and last year surpassed Harry Potter author JK Rowling as the UK's all-time top author in terms of units sold. The former children's laureate has written more than 200 books, including The Snail And The Whale, Room On The Broom, Zog, Stick Man, Tiddler, The Scarecrows' Wedding, and The Highway Rat.
Tall Stories and Theatrical Adaptations
Many of Dame Julia's books have been adapted by theatre company Tall Stories, which is responsible for the production of The Gruffalo. The company's artistic director, Toby Mitchell, told PA: "We've done 32 shows over our three decades, so it's acted as a gateway [to theatre] for people to come and see plays that we've adapted from fairy tales, or that we've made up from scratch because we've done a big mix of different things. It's been lovely to help with that role."
Mitchell added: "I think we take our audiences very seriously, even though the show is quite big and silly. It's not just a gateway for children into theatre. Sometimes it's a gateway for grown-ups into theatre because they'll come and see one of our shows when they don't perhaps go to grown-up theatre, then they might see what else is on at the venue and come to other grown-up shows. We know that our audiences are more socio-economically diverse than grown-up shows, and that's a joy to see as well."
Accessibility for Hard-of-Hearing Audiences
Dame Julia said she is now focused on making stage adaptations of her books as accessible as possible to hard-of-hearing audiences. She stated: "They are starting to put in the contract, or planning to put in the contract, that all theatres, as far as possible, must have the induction loop for people's hearing aids. I wear hearing aids and there is a T setting and if a theatre has got the induction loop, it's like a miracle. You hear every word the actors are saying. But I would say 19 out of 20 theatres that I've been to don't have it."
She continued: "They offer you some sort of gadget to put on your head or round your neck that maybe make it louder and more echo-y, but they don't help with the clarity at all. So I hope that that's going to make a difference. I'm not just talking about the children, there might be parents or grandparents who are hard of hearing. All hearing aids that I've ever had have got those two settings, so you're actually helping far more people by having the induction loop than by having a signer."
She clarified that this would not apply to all theatres, noting: "Some theatres are very very small and the actors might not have microphones, and the induction loop works with the microphone."
Enduring Appeal and Future Projects
The Gruffalo is one of Dame Julia's many collaborations with German illustrator Axel Scheffler, with whom she has produced more than 20 titles. Among them is the upcoming Gruffalo Granny, set to be published later this year.
Asked why the character of the Gruffalo has had such enduring appeal, Scheffler said: "I think the interesting thing is that the story works on so many different levels. There are two-year-olds looking at it who have no idea about the plot, and what I find amazing about the Gruffalo books is that I think the majority of four or five-year-olds don't understand the story at all, except that there is a big threatening beast and a little clever beast. They kind of have to grow into the complexity of the story, and I find that it really is a very multi-layered story, and there's lots of questions about lying and philosophical depth. So it is quite a quite complex. It works on different levels and different dimensions."
The Gruffalo stage show will run from July 17 to September 6 at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.
