Class Acts: Six Plays for Children

David E. Kemp is head of the Drama Department at Queen’s University.

Playwrights Canada Press has revised its previous collection of plays
for children by keeping three perennial favorites and adding three new
plays to this new edition.

The new plays are The Secret Garden, an adaptation of Frances Hodgson
Burnett’s classic children’s book; Mandy and the Magus, by Brian
Tremblay and Leslie Arden; and Love and Work Enough, which was compiled
by the Love and Work Enough Collective. Paul Ledoux’s magical
adaptation of The Secret Garden tells of Mary, a spoiled little girl who
arrives at her uncle’s mysterious manor on the moor; there, with the
help of a local boy, Dickon, she unravels the secrets of the house and
in the process heals both herself and her dying and equally spoiled
cousin. Mandy and the Magus recounts the story of Mandy, who seeks the
magic of the Magus to rid herself of her troublesome brother, only to
regret her actions later. Love and Work Enough examines the horror and
humor of homesteading in a primitive land, and celebrates Canada’s
pioneer women as they work to create a new life for themselves and their
families.

The three plays from the previous edition are Beware the Quickly Who
(Eric Nicol), a lively and exciting play about the quest for personal
and national identity; The Copetown City Kite Crisis (Rex Deverell), a
play with environmental overtones that centres on the citizens of a
small town who learn that the factory providing their livelihood is also
a big polluter; and My Best Friend is Twelve Feet Tall (Carol Bolt), an
exploration of friendship and fantasies contained in a narrative
framework.

This splendid collection contains works by some of Canada’s best
playwrights. It should find a place on the bookshelf of anyone
interested in theatre and children.