SEVEN PLAYS AND HOW TO PRODUCE THEM

by Moyne Rice Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1968

Mrs. Smith again offers a fine selection of plays for youngsters to perform. With less introductory material than before (she does suggest a look at her 1961 Plays and How to Put Them On), she makes simple and useful suggestions about staging, scenery, lighting, special effects, costuming and the particular problems of each play. Adapted by some of her students, they vary in locale--China, India, Switzerland, the U.S.A. and the never-never of princesses and fairies--and each does require enterprise from kids. Explicitly aware of repetition in much of children's literature, she chooses familiar themes with new twists-moving Grimm to India, making fun of rhyme in rhyme. ""Long and Short Division"" (the old math) looks at a bald princess who muffs her wish; her hair grows at a prodigious rate which doubles each time it is cut. ""Advertise for a competent prince, offer the usual reward"" is the parental solution, but even the winning suitor fails to foresee the consequences of his act; the hair stops growing but the princess gets taller. Coping calls for quick wit and movement, and thanks to the precise instructions for staging, the audience may have almost as much fun as the actors. Bolognese again provides some merry illustrations.

Pub Date: June 1, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Walck

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION