Britannia on Stage: 25 Plays from British History

McCaughrean has adapted a quarter of the stories from her collection of tales of British history (Britannia) as short one act plays. With a minimum of props and costumes - helmets alone distinguish Roman soldiers - and a lot of audience participation, there is plenty of dramatic invention to match the colour and excitement of her original retellings. Robert the Bruce lies on a bench inside 'a three-sided structure like a bus shelter', and the tireless spider is manipulated on the end of a pole above his head. Emily Davison dies under the hooves of the King's horse while a bookie shouts odds about some strange horses: 'War of the Sexes 16 to 1. Man's Tops, 7 to 10 on. Free and Equal isn't a runner!' There are plays for large and small casts. There are songs and poems, and assorted sound and light effects, including the possibility of a blinding arc lamp for Grace Darling's lighthouse. Ten of the plays have already had their first school performances and it is to be hoped that a lot more children and parents will soon have a chance to enjoy some of this, in McCaughrean's words, 'hugger-mugger treasury of adventure, comedy, tragedy, heroes and villains'.