“I really hope children come to see FLOELLA BENJAMIN’S COMING TO ENGLAND, not only because it’s such an entertaining show but also because we can all relate to it.
“We have all started at a new school and know what that feels like, but Floella’s story is incredible – coming here from Trinidad age 10 on a ship with her siblings….,” David Wood, ‘the national children’s dramatist’ explains.
‘Floella’s story is incredible – coming here from Trinidad age 10 on a ship with her siblings’
“The racist attitudes she encountered in the UK post-Windrush were shocking, but from my point of view it is a dramatic story so you have to balance the unjust and unfair with hope and trust. Children really understand unfairness.
“They want someone to cheer on, whether its Sophie in the BFG, James in the Giant Peach, or Willie in Goodnight Mr Tom, because while they can relate to being treated badly, a children’s play needs good parts and funny parts to get the balance right.
“You want them to be moved, and to feel something, so it needs to have a positive ending so that the audience is rooting for the characters and going through all the ups and downs with them.”
‘Children really understand unfairness but you have to balance the unjust with hope and trust’
David Wood should know! Name a famous piece of children’s theatre and he’s probably adapted it. From The Tiger Who Came To Tea to The Gingerbread Man, Babe The Sheep-Pig, Goodnight Mr Tom, the Roald Dahl plays, and film Swallow and Amazons, the ‘national children’s dramatist’ has been adapting the classics for years across the globe.
And Coming to England is his most recent, visiting Oxford Playhouse on Wed 18 – Sat 21 Sept.
The vibrant and energetic musical for the whole family is packed full of music, storytelling and song while telling Floella’s powerful and important story of hope, determination and triumph as she moved to England as a child.
‘I do feel a sense of responsibility, and still a huge challenge, but it’s a wonderful buzz when you get it right’
So is it daunting then to be handed these revered classics to transform for the stage? “I do feel a sense of responsibility, and still a huge challenge, but it’s a wonderful buzz when you get it right and the children are at listening and responding and joining in, and not getting bored or wanting to go to the loo because they’re scared of missing something,” David says.
“And I hope that will be the case in Coming To England, because I’ve known Floella for almost 50 years, and she asked me to do this, which is such a privilege and I’m buoyed up by that.”
Despite his OBE and numerous awards and accolades, David Wood started out as an actor, having studied English at Worcester College in Oxford.
‘I feel my time in Oxford was quite blessed and I still managed to scrape a third even though I didn’t do enough work’
“I can honestly say that my experience at Oxford was a delight. Even though I was from a grammar school I can’t remember anyone ever looking down at me, partly because I was involved in the theatre which was much more diverse and equal. It was about teamwork, talent and wanting to entertain people so I feel my time in Oxford was quite blessed in that way and I still managed to scrape a third even though I didn’t do enough work.”
A very successful acting career followed, David winning Best Newcomer in the West End and starring in numerous cult plays and films.
He was even kissed by Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor when she and Richard Burton visited Oxford to play in Faustus, a wonderful claim to fame.
‘Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were so happy in Oxford. I think it was the freedom, because there were no paparazzi’
“They stayed in The Bear in Woodstock but had a suite at The Randolph in Oxford for aftershow parties and we had so much fun. They had a full entourage of course and their chauffeur used to take us around in their green Rolls Royce. They were so happy in Oxford. I think it was the freedom because there were no paparazzi and it was unlike anything else they were doing at the time, even though they were a bit like royalty so had to be guarded around the clock.
“And then we went to a recording studio in Putney – the owner couldn’t believe it when Elizabeth Taylor showed up, but she said she was there to make the sandwiches and that’s what she did. Elizabeth kept us all entertained and one day I realised it was my 22nd birthday and she gave me a kiss. They were just lovely people and it was a magical time, a bit like a dream.”
So why turn from acting to adapting? “When I was in rep in Worcester I was asked to do Saturday morning sessions with the children – magic and sketches – and was then asked to write the Christmas show, and it went from there really. The Owl and the Pussycat went on to the West End, then The Gingerbread Man which was probably my biggest hit because it was shown internationally.
“So then I formed Whirligig Theatre Company in 1979 which gave us the opportunity to take our shows to big theatres all around the UK including the Oxford Playhouse. I was still acting and doing the odd adaption and then the adaptions sort of took over my life really.
“I always think if I was put here for a purpose it was to do that and I’m still so passionate about it because it’s so important for children to be given ‘a suck it and see’ chance to experience theatre. Not all of them will like it but it should be compulsory, like teaching them to swim, and I still see it that way.”
And then David chuckles and adds: “Although a woman once stood up at a talk I was giving and said I should be ashamed of myself for wasting my education and I could have been teacher or something if I’d tried harder.
“And while I don’t think I’d get into Oxford now because it’s so academic I like to think I’ve done my bit because when I started there wasn’t much going on and we’ve managed to get children’s shows into theatres all over the country. I think theatre has more of a role now than ever in bringing people together.
FLOELLA BENJAMIN’S COMING TO ENGLAND is at OXFORD PLAYHOUSE from Wednesday 18 to Saturday 21 September. Book here https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/floella-benjamins-coming-to-england
