THE TIGER'S BONES

by Ted Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 21, 1974

Originally written for radio but ""easily adapted for stage performance,"" these five plays should add considerable style and sparkle to a children's drama collection. Most simply rework traditional material: ""The Coming of the Kings"" sets the birth of Christ in a domestic comedy featuring a contentious and greedy innkeeper couple, in ""Orpheus,"" the stiffist of the five, the hero's music is enriched after the tragic second loss of Eurydice (after turning back, he could hear but not see or touch her), and ""Beauty and the Beast"" is a sort of romantic, gently Freudian fable in which a hysterical maiden, carried off at last by the bear who has haunted and terrified her, transforms him by her love to a handsome young bridegroom. ""Sean, the Devil and the Cats"" is a nicely turned tale with the ring of folklore. The title play and most original is about a Master and his disciples, determined to enlighten the savages if it leads to famine and to ""gaze (through their telescope) up into the blazing body of the Truth as it (a meteor) comes smashing down on our heads"" -- until the certain catastrophe turns out to be a fungus on the lens. Though it's something of a heavy fable in print, Hughes zips through the lunatic logic in a staccato dialogue (borrowed from the absurdists) that should keep any young audience alert.

Pub Date: Jan. 21, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 135

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION