Wonder Boy

by Ross Willis

Sonny is twelve. Living with a stammer, he is finding his way in a world ruled by vicious vowels, confusing consonants, and the biggest beast of all – small talk. His only escape is with a comic-book hero of his own creation, who helps Sonny soar above his reality. But when he's cast by the headteacher in the school production of Hamlet , he soon discovers that language is power – and the real heroes are closer than he thinks. Wonder Boy , Ross Willis's play about the power of finding your own voice, premiered at Bristol Old Vic in March 2022, directed by Sally Cookson.

96 pages, Paperback

Published August 26, 2025

Reviews

[daisy clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

wholesome play

[em · Rating 2 out of 5]

not my favourite, hard to follow the plot in places. just not that engaging, but not bad

[Charley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great idea, badly written and edited. Probably fab onstage but poorly handled on the page. Even more worrying that LAMDA have chosen it for their syllabus and I have to teach it. My kids are gonna find this a hard read. Such a shame…


Ok, so it turns out, two years later, I have to admit that the scene chosen by LAMDA from this play is genius and fab to perform. But I still have to instantly get anyone who chooses it to re type the whole thing in normal font size, AS THE CAPSLOCK THAT THE ENTIRE SPEECH, AND A FAIR AMOUNT OF THE PLAY, IS WRITTEN IN IS EXTREMELY CONFUSING AND VERY ANNOYING AFTER A BIT AS YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL, so very few of my students has ever managed to make it through reading the whole play.