Ruth Leon recommends… Frank Exchanges – David Wood

Frank Exchanges – David Wood

You might not know the name of David Wood but, if you have children, I guarantee you know his work.  David Wood, this is not an exaggeration, invented children’s theatre in this country against some pretty tough odds. Once he’d  done that, his plays, scripts and inventions spread to other countries and if you’ve never seen The Owl and the Pussycat Went to See… , or The Gingerbread Man or The Tiger Who Came To Tea, you’ve obviously never had to entertain a small child for the afternoon.

The late, much missed Irving Wardle, Theatre Critic of the Times, wrote that ‘David Wood has given children their own self-respecting artform’ as ‘the national children’s dramatist.’

I have known David for more than forty years but until I read his latest book, Frank Exchanges, I didn’t know that he had maintained a correspondence for even longer with Frank Whitbourn, his former drama and English teacher who became his lifelong mentor.

They met when David was 15 and already set on a career path as an actor and magician. The relationship was sufficiently strong and nourishing to both men that they not only kept in touch as David Wood grew up and into his life as playwright, author, director, composer and originator of an artform previously given scant respect, that of children’s theatre, they both kept their letters and, now that Frank Whitbourn has died, they have been published in this book, Frank Exchanges, as a salutary example of friendship between people of different generations.

It is clear from these letters that the creativity that pours out of David Wood might have been differently channelled had he not had the guiding hand of Frank Whitbourn to read and  comment on his work at every stage. And children everywhere would have been poorer for it .

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