 This
is an adaptation of the first of a delightful series of books
by Ronda and David Armitage. Mr. & Mrs. Grinling, the
Lighthouse Keeper and his wife, live in a cottage on a cliff.
Every day Mr. Grinling rows out to the lighthouse, where he
works all day. His wife prepares him delicious lunches, which
she sends to him via a pulley system between the cottage and
the lighthouse. Problems begin when hungry seagulls steal
Mr. Grinling’s lunch as it travels over the sea. It
is decided that Hamish, the Grinlings’ cat, will accompany
the lunch, but he becomes sea sick and the seagulls, unthreatened
by him, still have a feast. But they are finally defeated
when Mrs. Grinling puts mustard into her husband’s sandwiches.
The
play has a running time of approximately forty minutes. It
was conceived as a play for two professional actors and a
large cast of children. At Oxford, it became a major project
involving five schools. A team of director, assistant director,
choreographer, designer and musical director made regular
visits to the schools, rehearsing the children and involving
them in set design, prop making, choral singing and percussion
playing. In the final stages, the two professional actors
rehearsed with the children, before performing on the main
stage of the Oxford Playhouse. The project was a great success.
Many of the children had never been in a theatre, let alone
performed in a play, but rose magnificently to the occasion.
The play is published by Weinberger, complete with CD accompaniment to help school productions.
David
Wood writes : I was thrilled to be able to write and direct
this production for the Oxford Playhouse. It was a very rewarding
experience. I hope very much that there will be more productions
of this play.
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THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S LUNCH