The Boy
Who Could Fly and Other Magical Plays for Children by Ursula Dubosarsky, illustrated by
Amy Golbach (Second Looks) PB RRP $15.99 ISBN 9780994528094
Reviewed by
Dianne Bates
This is the
second collection of plays published by this Australian imprint of Christmas
Press. The author is a well-known, prize-winning author who generally writes
novels. In The Boy Who Could Fly, Dubosarsky has eleven plays of varying
lengths for children based on ancient Greek and Roman myths.
The first
play named for the title is about Icarus, the youth who flew too close to the
sun with the wax melting the wings attached to his back. In the version,
Icarus’s father is Daedalus, a famous inventor from Athens, exiled to the Greek
island of Crete who comes up with the idea of the wings so he can escape.
Other plays
feature well-known Greek myth identities such as Pygmalion, Echo, Narcissus,
Arachne and King Midas, and some lesser known Greeks such as Erysichthon, Io,
Philemon, Atalanta and Theseus. Each of the plays are loosely based on their
adventures. ‘Arachne, Spider Girl’, for instance, is a poor peasant girl whose
father is Idmon, a wool dyer. Nymphs and Dryads, children from vineyards and
rivers, admire Arachne’s weaving while Arachne boasts that her weaving is
superior to that of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. Disguised as an old woman,
the goddess seeks out Arachne and challenges her to a weaving competition. Of
course, Arachne finishes up transformed into a spider.
Each of the
plays in this book have largish casts which can be performed in classrooms by
all or most of the students. The dialogue is fast-paced and there’s plenty of
action. Recommended.
