The Playwrights Database
JOHN CAIRD
(1948 - )Nationality: English
email:
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Website:
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Literary Agent: Curtis Brown Group Ltd represented by Gordon Wise
I am a freelance director and writer working in theatre, opera and musical theatre, an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Principal Guest Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm (Dramaten) and author of Theatre Craft, published by Faber and Faber.
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below is a list of John Caird's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Beggar's Opera, The Children Of Eden Daddy Long Legs Jane Eyre Little Miss Scrooge Peter Pan, Or, The Boy Who Would Not Grow UpBeggar's Opera, The
Synopsis:
John Gay's great comic masterpiece is generally agreed to be the first ever musical. Written in 1728, the BeGGaR's OPeRa is a savagely funny satire on marriage, money and morals-as relevant and biting today as it was when first written. In this new version by John Caird and Ilona Sekacz, the old story is given new life as all our favorite characters return, in a play within a play, where beggars and thieves create a world of love, lust, violence, deceit, greed and a little more love. Ilona Sekacz's score uses all the old tunes, but brings them up to date in a superb synthesis of eighteenth and twentieth-century musical styles. John Caird's stage directions make the old text sizzle with life, giving a clear context for Gay's ruthless characters and driving the convoluted plot at a helter-skelter pace. Peachum, a purveyor of stolen goods, and his rapacious wife, are horrified to find that their only child, Polly, has fallen in love with, and worse still married, Captain Macheath, the famous highwayman. Peachum
Notes:
Original Playwright - John Gay, Written in collaboration with Illona Sekacz
1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1998
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
adaptation
Parts:
Male: 16 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageChildren Of Eden
Synopsis:
the themes of families, relationships, and learning to let go weave their way through 'Children of eden' - a musical based on the first nine-and-a-half chapters of the book of Genesis.
Notes:
Music by Stephen Schwartz; lyrics by Stephen Schwartz; book by John Caird
1st Produced:
Prince Edward, London
08 Jan 1991
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Music Theatre International, NY
Music:
Original cast recording: London (828234) 1991
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageDaddy Long Legs
Synopsis:
A crowd-pleaser for audiences from eight to eighty, Daddy Long Legs is touring the USA where it has received standing ovations at every performance. Set in the early 1900s in New england, Daddy Long Legs is the vivid account of a young orphan as she blossoms into a beautiful, intelligent and vivacious woman. An anonymous benefactor gives Jerusha Abbott an opportunity to attend college, requiring that she write to him monthly, even though he will not respond. Her letters to him paint a moving portrait of her former life in the orphanage, and the development of her mind and spirit. the lush set and costumes are by Olivier Award-winner David Farley. Daddy Long Legs won more awards than any other musical at last year's Ovation Awards in Los Angeles.
Notes:
By John Caird, music and lyrics by Paul Gordon; Based on the classic novel by Jean Webster
1st Produced:
Organisations:
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1st Published:
-
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
musical
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageJane Eyre
Screams in the middle of the night, house fires and intriguing characters, all underscored by an epic love-story and phenomenal music.
Notes:
Music by Paul Gordon; lyrics by Paul Gordon; lyrics by John Caird; book by John Caird. Based on the novel by Charlotte Bronte
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Music Theatre International, NY
Music:
Canadian cast recording: Mirvish (Je.01) 1997
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageLittle Miss Scrooge
Synopsis:
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Notes:
Lyrics and music by Paul Gordon; book by Paul Gordon, John Caird and Sam Caird
1st Produced:
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1999
Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Musical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PagePeter Pan, Or, The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up
Synopsis:
This is the beloved story of Peter, Wendy, Michael, John, Capt. Hook, Smee, the lost boys, pirates and the indians, and, of course, Tinker Bell, in their adventures in Never Land. However, for the first time, the play is here restored to Barrie's original intentions. In the words of John Caird: "a brief explanation of some of the decisions we took in revising the text may be useful to anyone considering their own production of this version. . .We were fascinated to discover that there was no one single document called PeTeR PaN. What we found was a tantalizing number of different versions, all of them containing some very agreeable surprises. . .We have made some significant alterations, the greatest of which is the introduction of a new character, the Storyteller, who is in fact the author himself. To a reader of the play, one of its most enjoyable ingredients is Barrie's unmistakable authorial tone. He tells the story of Peter Pan partly through dialogue and partly by means of his inimitable stage directions. In a whimsical, ambiguous and ironical manner he speaks here as clearly to adults as he does to children. Moreover, many of the play's complicated conceits are only comprehensible if Barrie's commentary can be heard in parallel with the voices of the characters. This device also allows us to prepare our audience with some essential background history of the Darling family in a brief prologue, and to extend the narrative at the end of the play to include Barrie's heartbreaking and heartwarming conclusion to Peter and Wendy's story."
Notes:
J.M. Barrie, in A new version by John Caird And Trevor Nunn
1st Produced:
-
Organisations:
1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1998
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: 22 Female: 8 Other: 2 boys, 1 girl (flexible casting): 20 total
Further Reference:
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