A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE

Nutcracker Sweet

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  3f, 3m, 1boy(s) or girl(s)

David Wood

Book, Music, and Lyrics by David Wood

The Nuts, led by the imposing Kernel Walnut, decide to show that Nuts are not 'nutty.' Unfortunately, William the Conker seems to demonstrate the opposite.

Nutcracker Sweet

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3f, 3m, 1boy(s) or girl(s)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Theatre for Young Audiences
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for All Audiences

Details

Summary
Set in the Nutty May Fair, the play follows the struggle of the nuts – including Kernel Walnut, Monkey Nut, William the Conker, Gypsy Brazil and Old Ma Coconut – against the villainous confectioner Professor Jelly Bon Bon, who is searching for nuts with which to create a new chocolate assortment. The “Chocolate Squirter’s” aims are eventually foiled, thanks to the nuttiness of the Nuts and the audience’s help.
History
The Redgrave Theatre, Farnham for Christmas 1977
Performing Groups
  • Additional Features Play with Music

Media

“You may well ask what I was doing one recent afternoon in the company of several hundred children, waving my arms in the air and singing ‘nutty, nutty, nutty, nuttiness is best.’ I was preventing myself from being glazed and then squirted with chocolate by Professor Jelly Bon Bon, is what I was doing. So would you have been. For this vintage children’s show by David Wood is every bit as good as THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT WENT TO SEE... or THE GINGERBREAD MAN. And, as in all the best Wood shows, participation is an essential element of the plot, not an afterthought … traditional children’s entertainment in a fresh coat of paint.”
Financial Times

“… hundreds of children at Sadler’s Wells on their feet and roaring their defiance at the Chocolate Squirter.”
The Guardian

“… a splendid confection … superb children’s theatre.”
The Irish Times

“Children loved this show, and so did their parents, and so did I.”
Cambridge Evening News

“Perfection in any art form is rare. In the sphere of children’s theatre we came as close to it as is possible with David Wood’s NUTCRACKER SWEET … the triumph of this play is not in what it contains, but in how its content is transformed into performances which are quite spell-binding. The moment when, at a given signal, every child in the audience stood up, waved their arms and sang ‘nutty, nutty, nutty, nutty, nuttiness’ is the moment when I realised that I was experiencing perfection in theatrical experience; the audience and performers unselfconsciously acting as one … David Wood’s script, untiringly witty, ensured that anyone of any age will find something to delight in this show.” Hibernia  “… the inventive genius of David Wood … of such is the theatre, including audiences of the future born.”
The Stage

“A wonderful, wonderful enchanting show, intelligent and sophisticated and no child should be deprived of it”
South Wales Argos

Videos

  • Interview with David Wood youtube thumbnail

    Interview with David Wood

  • David Wood on Getting Started As a Playwright youtube thumbnail

    David Wood on Getting Started As a Playwright

  • David Wood on Doing It Yourself youtube thumbnail

    David Wood on Doing It Yourself

  • David Wood on Challenges In His Plays youtube thumbnail

    David Wood on Challenges In His Plays

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:
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Authors

David Wood

David Wood

David Wood has been called “the national children’s dramatist” (London Times). His plays are performed worldwide, and include The Gingerbread Man, The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner, Save the Human, Aladdin, Hijack Over Hygenia, Jack the Lad, Larry the Lamb in Toytown, Old ...

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