Box of Delights

What do Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, and the Chronicles of Narnia have in common? They are all books that became successful films. They all feature creatures of all sizes, such as the Balrog and the House Elf (a good title perhaps for a children’s story). But most pertinently here, all three modern megahits draw something of their narrative from the seminal 1935 work, The Box of Delights. Few have heard of this great classic novel and it has rarely been in vogue, but its influence has been profound – the book was innovative in launching ideas of flying cars and battling wizards, and an orphan boy at the midst of it all (sound familiar?). This modern script adaptation was put together by Piers Torday, the children’s author. Torday won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 2014 for The Dark Wild, and followed this up with the completion of his father’s unfinished novel manuscript The Death of An Owl. Torday first adapted The Box of Delights for performance at Wilton’s Music Hall in 2017, and the show was recently revived by the Royal Shakespeare Company, as their Stratford Christmas play of last year. We are very much looking forward to staging this Christmas Classic, and look forward to welcoming you into our converted Library Theatre for an early Christmas treat suitable for all the family.