Julia Donaldson News

J K Rowling, E L James and Julia Donaldson have landed on Nielsen Book's first Bestseller Hall of Fame, reaching platinum sales records.J K Rowling, E L James and Julia Donaldson have landed on Nielsen Book's first Bestseller Hall of Fame, reaching platinum sales records.

Spring 2017 has Arrived at the New Theatre with an eclectic mix of shows guaranteed to delight and entertain audiences. >From blockbuster musicals to special one-off performances, from classic drama to family favourites, this is an unmissable programme of theatre. 

We first came across Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's now much-loved book The Gruffalo in 1999, the year it was published. My co-artistic director Toby was working as an editor for Macmillan Children's Books (the Gruffalo publishers), and we thought it was a brilliant story that might work well on stage for children aged 3+ and their grown-ups.

Sherman Theatre is to become the first Welsh producing theatre to co-produce a show with the Royal Court Theatre, London with the world premiere of Gary Owen's Killology highlighting as part of their Spring season of work.

Following record-breaking sales across the UK tour and during a 6-week Christmas season at Warwick Arts Centre, Scamp Theatre have announced that the award-winning Stick Man's return to the West End has been extended.

Based on the award-winning children's book, What the Ladybird Heard will be performed at Town Hall from Tuesday 27 December 2016 until Wednesday 11 January 2017, with a specially adapted relaxed and BSL interpreted performance on Sunday 8 January.

At the end of a remarkable year for the Northampton venue, Royal & Derngate's Artistic Director James Dacre today announced details of Made in Northampton 2017. 

Olivier award-winning producer Sue Scott Davison, Creative Programmer of the Broadway Theatre - a new mid-scale theatre in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, only half an hour from London - today announces the venue's inaugural season which will run from February to May 2017.

An exciting summer and autumn program featuring a witchy ride through the skies, a New York-based clowning duo with breathtaking air sculptures, Canadian "sheep" on the lawn and a fake-bloody Shakespearean tale will make Arts Centre Melbourne the place for families when the weather warms up.

Olivier Award-winning theatre company Mischief Theatre are bringing their comedy masterpiece The Play That Goes Wrong to Australia for the first time from February next year.

This award-winning production is packed full of puppetry, songs, live music and funky moves... it is the perfect festive family entertainment!

Southbank Centre's Winter Festival supported by NatWest returns for the holiday season with a packed programme of festive fun and entertainment for all the family from performances including a new version of hit show BIANCO by UK's leading circus company NoFit State Circus, the Tony award-winning musical Million Dollar Quartet and cabaret sensation Le Gateau Chocolat's first ever work for children (and the young at heart) Duckie, to festive concerts, social dances, creative workshops, choirs and a weekend of events inspired by the theme of giving and charity. The 21 acre site is transformed into a winter landscape with a Nordic feel, designed by Hemingway Design, with a sky-high Norwegian tree, Nordic 'Gonks'- mythological Scandinavian creatures, hundreds of Christmas trees, walks of twinkling lights and the return of the bustling Winter Market.  Alternative treats are also on offer across the season including BUMP Rollerdisco and the return of the spectacular Vintage New Year's Eve Party. With the full programme on sale from today, Southbank Centre's Winter Festival programme is guaranteed to get everyone in the festive spirit this Christmas.

Currently enjoying its 15th anniversary at the Lyric Theatre, where it runs until 8 January, The Gruffalo Live returns to South Africa this December. The national tour follows on from a sell-out run at the Cape Town Fringe where the production made its debut this September. This also marked the first time Tall Stories' smash-hit production had been staged on the African continent. Having previously toured to over 500 venues across the globe, The Gruffalo Live first opened on 12 May 2001 at Chester Gateway theatre and since then has performed in 15 countries and 6 continents, played twice at the Sydney Opera House, twice on Broadway, once at the National Theatre and is now in its ninth West End season.

Get ready for a 'whale of a time' at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) this summer as the charming stage production, The Snail and the Whale comes to the Cremorne Theatre from Friday 6 to Sunday 22 January 2017 as part of the QPAC SummerSet program.

THE GRUFFALO seems to have done brisk business at the Cape Town Fringe and is sure to have a life on South African stages beyond this initial engagement, with an isiXhosa version already lined up for next year. It will be fascinating to see how this process of translation plays out as the next entry into this franchise's commodities is developed.

With John Malkovich's acclaimed production of Good Canary entering its final week, Rose Theatre Kingston today announces its new season for 2017.  Headlining the season is the world premiere of My Brilliant Friend, a two-part adaptation of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet of novels which have become a global literary sensation.  The true identity of the author is a mystery, with Elena Ferrante a pseudonym used by the writer, but speculation over the weekend suggested that the author had been unmasked.  

The Cape Town Fringe returns to the Mother City from 22 September - 8 October this year, with a programme that runs into the school holidays as well as over three weekends. A host of family-friendly daytime and early evening shows will be performed, with at least four productions appealing to the tiniest of tykes on this year's line-up.

Best-selling children's author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler's magical tale Room on the Broom will fly into Arts Centre Melbourne's Playhouse from 4 - 15 January 2017. UK theatre company Tall Stories and Australia's CDP Theatre Producers - the team behind the stage adaptations The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child - will bring to life the award-winning book in a play filled with songs, puppets, laughs and scary fun for children aged three and up and their grown-ups.

Author, Nancy Bromley, recognizes that the story of the Nativity has been retold in multiple forms for centuries. Inspired by the works of Jill Eggleton and Julia Donaldson, Bromley retells the Christmas story using elements of rhyme, repetition and prediction in 'Away in a Stable' (published by Trafford Publishing).

The National Arts Festival announced this week that it is producing the hit Tall Stories musical adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's award-winning picture book, THE GRUFFALO.