BUDDING young actors at Stratford Youth Theatre have scored a major acting coup.
They will be putting on the very first stage adaptation of much-loved children’s book The Spiderwick Chronicles written by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.
With over 1.5million copies in print in the UK alone, the novel has been beloved by children and their parents for more than 20 years.
And now the young people from SYT have been meeting to rehearse every weekend since Christmas in preparation to put on the stage version.
They have been busy learning lines, puppetry and stage combat, not to mention how to act like goblins and elves.
The cast of 20 will bring the Spiderwick characters to life to create a magical show that will leave the audience spellbound throughout the half-term holiday.
Sarah Plowright, founder and director of SYT, said: “We are delighted to adapt the very first production of The Spiderwick Chronicles and very grateful to Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black for trusting us with this amazing project and to share it with audiences in our home town of Stratford.”
The story follows the Grace family, who, after finding a mysterious, handmade field guide in the attic of a ramshackle old mansion, discover that there is a magical and maybe dangerous world existing parallel to their own — the world of Faerie. They find themselves hunted by a band of menacing goblins and constantly pranked by their very own house brownie who will stop at nothing to prevent the secrets of the book from being revealed.
Author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi added: “My family and I love to immerse ourselves in the magic of the theatre, whether it a play or musical. To see the Spiderwick story brought to life on stage is an honour. To have children performing it is true joy.”
The Spiderwick Chronicles has been adapted as a hit Hollywood feature film and will soon premiere as an eight-episode series on Roku.
This stage version has been supported by a grant from Stratford Town Trust.
The Spiderwick Chronicles runs at The Bear Pit in Stratford from February 14 to February 17.
For more information visit www.thebearpit.org.uk
