Toby Mitchell of Tall Stories on The Gruffalo’s lasting appeal
Tall Stories’ much-loved adaptation The Gruffalo Live on Stage celebrates 25 years this summer, coming to the West End with a run at the Lyric Theatre. Artistic Director Toby Mitchell takes time out from rehearsals to speak with Everything Theatre and give us a little insight into the ongoing love among audiences for this adaption of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s award-winning picture book.
Hi Toby, thanks for taking time from rehearsals to speak with us today. The Gruffalo Live on Stage: 25 years, an audience of over 3 million people, performed in 18 different countries, translated into 7 different languages, and performed by 37 actors – quite a string of stats. It is rare for a piece of theatre to still be being performed after so many years, and to be so loved by generation after generation of audiences. What do you put that down to?
Well, the book is brilliant – and people seem to love our show too! I first read The Gruffalo before it was published, when Tall Stories was a tiny two-year old fringe company and my day job was editing books for Macmillan Children’s Books. I instantly thought it was a great story, so I showed it to Olivia Jacobs, co-founder of Tall Stories. She agreed enthusiastically, so we asked for the rights to adapt it for the stage.
The show premiered 18 months after publication of the book – and even during that first tour it was obvious that the book and show were both something special. For example, we only had to leave a pause before the final word of a rhyming couplet and the audience would supply the missing word for us.
The story itself, about a small creature triumphing over a big creature by using brains not brawn, is a modern classic. And our show, by paying tribute to the book and by adding extra dialogue, movement, songs and comedy, seems to have become a bit of a classic too. Importantly, every few years, we revisit the script, the set, the costumes, the songs, and make changes (some big, some small), to make sure the show is still as good as possible. We now have parents who saw the show when they were young bringing their own children to the show!
It was obvious when the show first arrived 25 years ago that there was something very special and almost radically new about the production. In the years that have followed, clearly it has been used as something of a creative catalyst for numerous other companies adapting books for the stage. What do you think it was that started you on the ‘Gruffalo journey’ that others now have taken?
That’s very kind of you to say so! Tall Stories aims to put great stories on stage for multi-generational audiences. We try to make our shows enjoyable on different levels, so that grown-ups can enjoy them alongside the children. We’ve created 32 shows over our three decades of existence – a third based on picture books, a third based on fairy tales and a third made up from scratch.
The Gruffalo Live on Stage was part of our journey towards a house style of what can be called physical storytelling theatre, where the performers talk directly to an audience, telling them a story while also becoming the characters physically and vocally.
The first Gruffalo tour was three performers in a car, with all the set and sound kit – and no stage manager. It was years later that the producer, Kenny Wax, took a risk on taking us on to mid-scale stages. And when it proved successful, it was inevitable that other companies would follow our lead. Tall Stories is a charity, so the tours of our adaptations of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s books subsidise our smaller shows and our community/outreach work. It’s great that we can bring our ‘radical’ show to families all over the country and the world.
Toby Mitchell & Olivia Jacobs
You have adapted many books over the years for the stage. Can you unpack for us what makes a good author-illustrator and theatre maker-adaptor relationship – balancing both being faithful to the original book and allowing theatrical style to lead the experience?
When we first adapted The Gruffalo, Julia and Axel trusted us completely to make a great show out of their book. As time has passed, they and other book creators have rightly become more careful about how exactly their work is staged. For example, when we first adapted The Gruffalo we instinctively wanted to include every word from the book – because there are so few and because they are so good. Nowadays, it’s built into contracts that companies have to include every word!
It’s important to listen to the comments and suggestions of the original author and illustrator; they often have really good ideas on how to adapt their work. For example, Julia suggested that we have a live musician in The Snail and the Whale. We thought that was a great idea; and the musician then also became a narrator who told the story of when she was young, adding all sorts of different levels to the show.
The look of the show is also important – you have to pay tribute to the brilliant original illustrations, while exploring how live theatre can add extra magic. At Tall Stories, both in the script and the design, we encourage audiences to use their imaginations. We also encourage emerging directors to embrace storytelling theatre, through our directors training course and our directors award.
25 years is a long time. For this coming anniversary remount, how have you approached making the show still feel fresh and playful, maybe even bringing in changes as a result of your experiences as a director and dramaturg over the years?
The quality of the audience’s experience is always central to our work and that has never changed. We make sure we go and see our shows in different venues, so we can see how different audiences react. And we encourage audience members to send in feedback, which quite often results in changes to the shows!
For this particular remount, among other differences, we are building on changes to the character of Snake that we first introduced two years ago, which resulted in his song becoming disco in style. We have built a new logpile house which – without giving too much away – lights up in all sorts of disco ways. We’ve also trimmed the script and added some fresh new bits of humour.
We re-cast each new version of the show, which invites changes because every new performer brings something fresh and exciting. I would say that 50% of the show is broadly as it was in 2001, and 50% has changed and developed over the years – whether it’s the script, characters, costumes, set… And this is so important to us as the creators of the show: what we do is all about adventure, and it would be so unadventurous to just do it the same way every time.
If you were to sum up the piece for an audience coming to see The Gruffalo in three short sentences, what would they be?The Gruffalo Live on Stage is an exciting and entertaining adaptation of the classic picture book. Our show mixes storytelling, songs and humour, sprinkled with some gentle audience participation. Come and see it – and be transported into the deep dark wood!
The Gruffalo Live on Stage celebrates its 25th birthday with a UK Tour (until 2027), including a current run at the Lyric Theatre until Sunday 6 September.
