Five Children and It - Plays for Young People Synopsis
If you could have one wish what would it be?
Sent away to live in the countryside with their reclusive uncle, five children discover a secret that's been hidden away for centuries: a magical, mischievous but somewhat grouchy Sand Fairy called It with the power to grant spectacular wishes. There's just one catch... As the children set off on a series of fantastic adventures, they soon learn that wishes can get you into a whole heap of trouble.
Perhaps a wish granted isn't always the dream come true you might expect!
Marietta Kirkbride's sparkling take on Five Children and It, the classic story by E. Nesbit, is published in Methuen Drama's Plays For Young People series which offers suitable plays for young performers and audiences at schools, youth groups and youth theatres.
Edith Nesbit (1858 – 1924) was a mischievous, tomboyish child
who grew up to be an unconventional adult. She and her husband were
founder members of the socialist Fabian Society and their home became a
centre for socialist and literary discussion. Their friends included
some of the time’s greatest writers and thinkers, including George
Bernard Shaw and H G Wells.
Everything about Edith showed her as a woman trying to break out of
the mould demanded by English society at the time – she expressed her
individuality through her clothes, hairstyle, lifestyle and her habit of
speaking forcefully on almost any subject. She lived her socialism and
late in life her charitable deeds brought her close to bankrupcy.
E Nesbit – she always used the plain initial for her writing and was
sometimes thought to be a man – started to write for children after
years of successful writing for adult magazines. She was asked to write
about her childhood but instead of facts chose to describe her happy
girlhood in fiction. The result was books still read today, firm
bestsellers for decades. She was brilliant at combining real-life
situations with elements of fantasy and humour. Films – such as The
Railway Children - have kept her stories in the public eye and her
magical fantasies, including Five Children and It, continue to delight
each new generation of children.
