| Collection | David Drummond Pantomime Collection |
| Description | Contains flyers, leaflets, programmes, and ephemera from plays and pantomimes written by the actor, producer, and writer David Wood. Several of these plays are adapted from titles by authors such as Roald Dahl, Jim Aylesworth, and Judith Kerr. These include The BFG, The Gingerbread Man, The Tiger Who Came To Tea, and The Witches. There are an assortment of pantomimes by David Wood, notably Cinderella, Jack and the Giant, and Old Mother Hubbard. |
| Admin history | David Wood was born on 21st February 1944 in Sutton, Surrey in England. Son of Richard Edwin and Audrey Adele (Fincham) Wood, he went to school at Chichester High School for Boys. During the 1960s, Wood attended the University of Oxford, where he began to write plays for children.
Plays that he has written include the following:
Original works:
The Plotters Of Cabbage Patch Corner (1970)
Flibberty and the Penguin (1971)
The Papertown Paperchase (1972)
Hijack Over Hygenia (1973)
The Gingerbread Man (1976), a musical inspired by the 19th-century fairy tale "The Gingerbread Man"
Nutcracker Sweet (1977)
The Ideal Gnome Expedition (1980)
The Selfish Shellfish (1983)
The See-Saw Tree (1986)
Roald Dahl adaptations:
The BFG (1991), adapted from The BFG (1982)
The Witches (1992), adapted from The Witches (1983)
The Twits (1999), adapted from The Twits (1979)
Fantastic Mr Fox (2001), adapted from Fantastic Mr Fox (1970)
James And The Giant Peach (2001), adapted from James And The Giant Peach (1961)
Danny The Champion Of The World (2004), adapted from Danny the Champion of the World (1975)
George's Marvellous Medicine (2009), adapted from George's Marvellous Medicine (1981)
The Magic Finger (2013), adapted from The Magic Finger (1962)
Other adaptations:
The Owl and the Pussycat went to See.... (1968) co-written with Sheila Ruskin, based on the nonsense poetry of Edward Lear
Meg and Mog (1981), adapted from Helen Nicoll's books about her characters Meg and Mog
Noddy (1993), adapted from Enid Blyton's books about her character Noddy
Rupert Bear (1993), adapted from Mary Tourtel's comic strip Rupert Bear (1920)
Babe, the Sheep-Pig (1997), adapted from Dick King-Smith's The Sheep-Pig (1983)
Spot's Birthday Party (2000), adapted from the Spot books by Eric Hill (1980)
Tom's Midnight Garden (2000). adapted from Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce (1958)
The Tiger Who Came To Tea (2008), adapted from Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came To Tea (1968)
Guess How Much I Love You (2010), adapted from Sam McBratney's Guess How Much I Love You (1994)
Goodnight Mister Tom (2011), adapted from Michelle Magorian's Goodnight Mister Tom (1981)
Adult adaptations:
The Go-Between (2011; West End 2016), adapted from L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between (1953)
In 2006, Wood wrote THE QUEEN’S HANDBAG, a play to celebrate the Queen’s 80th birthday, and which was performed in Buckingham Palace Gardens. It was aired live by the BBC and watched by 8 million people.
Wood has also had a career in film, and has starred as Johnny in Lindsay Anderson’s If… (1968) and as Thompson in Aces High (1976).
Wood is an actor, composer, producer, director, and playwright, and was director of W.S.G. Productions Ltd. between 1966 and 2011. He also co-founded he Whirligig Theatre, a touring children's theatre company alongside John Gould. Wood was director of Whirligig theatre between 1979 and 2013. He was also co-founder and director of Verronmead Limited, a television production company, between 1983 and 2006, Westwood Theatre Productions between 1986 and 1994, and W2 Productions, which he co-founded in 1995. Since the 1980s, Wood has also written children’s books with the illustrator and paper engineer Richard Fowler.
He has also acted as a member of the drama advisory panel of the Arts Council of Great Britain between 1978 and 1980, President of Action for Children’s Arts as from 2016, a Board Member of Polka Children’s Theatre as from 1979, a Trustee of Wimbledon Theatre between 1996 and 2003, and as a Trustee of The Story Museum between 2006 and 2021. Wood was also a recipient of the J M Barrie Award in 2017 and received an OBE in 2004 for services to literature and drama in the Queen's birthday honours.
Wood has been married twice, first to Sheila Ruskin from 1966 to 1970, and second to the actress Jacqueline Stanbury, who he married in January 1975. He has two daughters with Stanbury.
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