The Witches: Plays for Children

by David Wood (Adapter), Roald Dahl

Dare you take on the role of the Grand High Witch? David Wood has created seven short plays to read and perform. With notes on simple staging, props and costumes, the plays can be produced with the minimum of experience and resources. Children will have a phizzwizardly good time - and their friends won't believe their gogglers!

Genres: Fantasy, Classics, Childrens, Fiction, Plays, Witches, Drama

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

DAVID WOOD began writing as a student at Oxford University in the sixties.

He wrote his first play for children in 1967 and has since written over sixty more.
They are performed all over the world and include THE GINGERBREAD MAN (nine London seasons), THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT WENT TO SEE... (six London seasons, co-written with Sheila Ruskin), THE SELFISH SHELLFISH, THE SEE-SAW TREE, SAVE THE HUMAN (from the story he wrote with cartoonist Tony Husband), THE IDEAL GNOME EXPEDITION and THE PLOTTERS OF CABBAGE PATCH CORNER.

His stage adaptations of well-known books include Dick King-Smith's BABE THE SHEEP-PIG, Roald Dahl's THE BFG and THE WITCHES (both of which played long tours and two West End seasons), THE TWITS, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and FANTASTIC MR FOX, DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD and GEORGE’S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE, HRH The Prince of Wales' THE OLD MAN OF LOCHNAGAR, Michael Foreman's DINOSAURS AND ALL THAT RUBBISH, Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski's MEG AND MOG SHOW (five London seasons for Unicorn Theatre), Philippa Pearce's TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN (which Unicorn Theatre played on tour, in the West End and on Broadway) and Judith Kerr’s THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA.

He was dubbed 'the national children's dramatist' by Irving Wardle in The Times and published, to rave reviews, THEATRE FOR CHILDREN: GUIDE TO WRITING, ADAPTING, DIRECTING AND ACTING (Faber), co-written with Janet Grant, which has become required reading on the subject in the UK and the US, and is now published in China.

He directed many of his plays for his own company, Whirligig Theatre (founded with John Gould in 1979), which for 25 years toured to major theatres nationwide include Sadler's Wells in London.

Film screenplays include SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS and BACK HOME, which won a gold award at the New York Film and TV Festival 1991. Writing for television includes the series CHIPS' COMIC, CHISH 'N' FIPS and THE GINGERBREAD MAN; and TIDE RACE, his filmed drama for Central Television and the European Broadcasting Union, has won several international awards.

For BBC Radio 4 he adapted Arthur Ransome's SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS.

He also writes children's books; with Richard Fowler he has co-created novelty books including BEDTIME STORY, MOLE'S SUMMER STORY, MOLE'S WINTER STORY, SILLY SPIDER, THE MAGIC SHOW, FUNNY BUNNY'S MAGIC SHOW and THE TOY CUPBOARD. He wrote THE PHANTOM CAT OF THE OPERA (illustrated by Peters Day).

David Wood has followed a parallel career as an actor, best remembered as Johnny in Lindsay Anderson's cult film IF... He is married to Jacqueline Stanbury; they have two grown-up daughters, Katherine and Rebecca.

In 2004 he was awarded an OBE for services to literature and drama in the Queen's birthday honours.

In 2006 he wrote THE QUEEN’S HANDBAG, a play to celebrate the Queen’s 80th birthday. It was performed by an all-star cast in Buckingham Palace Gardens at the Children’s Party at the Palace, and seen live on BBC 1 by 8,000,000 television viewers.

from http://www.davidwood.org.uk/all_about...

Reviews

[Medford Children's Library]

When an orphaned boy and his gradmother take a vacation they stumble upon the Annual Witches convention. When he accidentally sits in on a meeting, he learns about Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker which will turn all the children of the world into mice. Unfortunately, he must experience this firsthand as the witches smell him in the room. With no toes and rotten worm eating faces, the descriptions and illustrations are both comical and scary. The boy and his grandmother must come up with a way to turn him back into a human and stop the witches before it is too late. Great read for grades 3 and up. Roald Dahl has MANY books about fantasy and magic for younger readers. I recommend the BFG as well.

Food for thought: If you were a mouse, what is one thing you would do?

[Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about the "real" witches. It makes you believe that witches do exist and can look like anyone, unless you look for certain signs. I recommend you read the book before you see the movie. It is so much better than the movie. This would have been nice to read a sequel to this book.

[jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite Roald Dahl books. Right there under BFG.

I think I read it last year...still enjoyable. haha.

[Billiejean1029 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good :)

[Webyr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cette histoire m'a traumatisée quand j'étais enfant mais même en ayant eu peur j'ai adoré l'histoire ! Le nombre de fois où je vérifiais si les femmes de mon entourages n'étaient pas des sorcières x)

[Gamer Dz · Rating 3 out of 5]

تحدثنا الرواية عن الجدة وحفيدها ومغامرتهما في عالم مليئ بالسحرة قتلة البشر
يغلب على الرواية طابع المغامرة والاثارة والحركة خصوصا ..ومااجده جديد في الرواية هو جدية الكاتب على غير العادة .وهو ما اعطى الرواية نمط و صنف الرعب ولو كان بشكل يناسب الاطفال
البطل وهو الطفل ليس جديد الفكر والشخصية بل هو نفسه الطفل جورج او جامس او اي بطل من رواية رولد فهو الفتى الطيب والشجاع والجاهل بجهل القارئ فيتلقى معه البداية وهي شحنة المعرفة التي يحتاجها ويستحقها لفهم عالم الرواية واهم شخصياته ومايجب ان نحبه وما يجب ان نمقته
تميزت رواية الساحرات عن غيرها من روايات رولد بكثر الحماس والمشاهد المثيرة التي تجعل القارئ يشد انفاسه ويعود هذا للعدو الكبير في الرواية وهي الساحرة المرعبة بحق
من شخصيات الرواية الجدة وهي الجدة التي نعرفها كلنا بحنانها وعطفها ولكن جدتنا هاته تميزت بالرشاقة والفكاهة والمعرفة بامر الساحرات .وهنا نتطرق لشخصية الساحرة العظمى وهي القوية الكريهة والكارهة للاطفال وكل ما يتعلق بهم .تتميز بلكنتها الاجنبية وتراسها عالم السحرة
جمال الرواية يكمن في تفاصيلها الدقيقة ومن بينها مواضع اختلاف البشر عن السحرة من اضافر وشعر وانف وكذا جمال الحب الاموي الذي تقدمه الجدة وقولها 'It doesn't matter who you are or what you look
like so long as somebody loves you'
نهاية الرواية اعطت لوهلة طابع الحزن والسعادة معا ببقاء الفتى على هيئة الفار ومستقبل موته والجدة .الا انها انحرفت وغيرت تلك النهاية بنهاية مفتوحة بعنوان محو السحرة من العالم وهو ماكان اكثر ملاءمة للاطفال

[Dyson Lan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun story about a child and some witches.In the beginning the child knew witches from his granny, they are cruel people that likes to kill or eat kids. He thinks the witches is not real, until they go to a new place to live, he saw witches talking about killing children. At last he has been turned into a mouse, but he also turn the group of witches into mouse too. I think this is a funny and interesting story because the magic of the witches(for example disguise and turning people into mouse) are very cool and fun.

[Oliwia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Witches" by Roald Dahl is a captivating blend of humor and suspense that kept my entire class thoroughly entertained. The book masterfully weaves together elements of comedy and fear, creating a unique and engaging reading experience.

Dahl's witty writing style and imaginative storytelling effortlessly drew us into the world of the Grand High Witch and her diabolical plans. The characters, particularly the brave protagonist and his eccentric grandmother, were endearing and relatable, adding depth to the narrative.

[Jennifer Conrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an amusing little book. My son had some good laughs with it, but it felt like it was meant for a younger age than 11. The whole story is just ridiculous, which was fun. We haven't seen either of the movies, but wanted to read it before we saw any of these. I think I'd recommend this more for 7-9 year-olds.

[Juan Fernando Acosta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si tuviera que describir el terror infantil con un solo libro, de seguro pondría este. De igual manera con sus adaptaciones cinematográficas. No soy el mayor fan de la misoginia implícita, pero por fuera de eso, la historia es sencillamente excelente.
La forma en la que barre temas serios de una manera tan simple y accesible para infancias, me parece excelente.

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Vitches is a amazing book! Ha Ha You'll know what I mean later.
Ronald Dahl ( the one who originally wrote the book) is one of my favorite authors, he wrote Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Matilda,and The BFG etc. So if you read one of his books I bet you'll want to read this book.

[Spike · Rating 5 out of 5]

L

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it

[Kals♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I read in my School days rather I still read it sometimes. A worth read....

[Florentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah it’s cool😺👍 kinda gross that they have flaky scalps🤢🤮. Did they eat the rat?

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never read the witches, but this is pretty good though. Simple. But the ending sucked.

[Carol Chiriboga · Rating 5 out of 5]

I simple love this book

[Marijke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I readed this book when I was a child. Readed this book again and still love it so much😍

[Aamina]

i think its good and scary if we read at night

[holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have wached this movie before
😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼😼

[Chloe Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

1 trong những quyển truyện siêu thích hồi bé ❤️ cực kì nên đọc

[Ronnie Cobb · Rating 4 out of 5]

read

[Jessica Formosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The movie acted out was better of course then reading the script.... still thumbs up to the author!

[Jade Smales]

Awsome

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good book

[Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s nice. It is full of mystery and action but it’s not too overwhelming for kids.

[Fateme kamali · Rating 5 out of 5]

My students and I read it in the story telling class when I was working at school.
They enjoyed it.

[Andrew Judd · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Witches is Ronald Dahl at his absolute best. The story is hilarious, inventive, dark, scary, and heartwarming. This is children’s storytelling perfection!

[Max Mcc]

Rec: , Format : Paperback, From:

[Bookish kingdom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun read!