There seems to be a plethora of films, TV series, and, especially, novels adapted for the stage at present, many of which I have seen and reviewed, most of them adding little if anything to their source material, and some being very pedestrian indeed! For anyone contemplating adapting a book for the stage, David Wood’s new title should be compulsory reading, as it attempts and almost always succeeds in charting the steps he has taken in rewriting three popular works of children’s fiction for the theatre.
David Wood came to prominence in 1968 with the production of The Owl and The Pussycat Went to See, co-written with Sheila Ruskin and based on the poems of Edward Lear. Over the next few years, he wrote several highly successful original plays for young people, including The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner (1970) and the musical The Gingerbread Man (1976), in collaboration with the musician and pianist John Gould. However, their work together was not only for children, it also included a highly successful adaptation of PG Wodehouse’s The Luck of the Bodkins, which I saw at Theatre Royal Windsor and thoroughly enjoyed, even if producers didn’t, as I do not believe it has been staged since, but I remember it as being very stylish and whimsical – every inch a piece of Wodehouse!
Wood, together with Gould, also founded Whirligig Theatre, a highly successful touring theatre company producing work designed especially for young people and was dubbed by The Times as “the national children’s dramatist”, being awarded an OBE in 2004 for his services to literature and drama.
More recently, he adapted Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden and Kathleen Hale’s Orlando the Marmalade Cat as three pieces of theatre for children, and it is these that Wood deals with in the book under review. One of the great pleasures of reading anything written by him is his prose style, which is so relaxed and welcoming that one is inspired, having ‘dipped into’ the book, intending to just spend a few minutes before answering important emails, to find oneself totally immersed and engrossed one hour later in what the author is saying!
Written in collaboration with the three authors of the titles he has chosen, each section is copiously illustrated with letters and many coloured photographs, designed to show the creative process “from page to stage”, slightly different in each case, but absolutely fascinating, not only for the general reader, but also for those contemplating adapting anything from one medium to another. This paperback is superbly presented and amazingly inexpensive! The three hundred pages are spiced with anecdotes and humour as well as valuable information and Wood deals with his subject in depth, but also with enthusiasm. I just wish that I could see The Luck of The Bodkins again!
Very highly recommended: especially to budding “adapters”!
Review by John Groves
TIGER, TOM & TINKLE
Creative Collaborations with Judith Kerr, Philippa Pearce and Kathleen Hale
By David Wood
Published by The Book Guild Ltd
Available from 28 January 2026
Buy on Amazon – Paperback and Kindle (other outlets available)
