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Our Story
How Classical Children's Plays began - and what guides everything we create.
Creating Our Own
So we decided to create our own.
We set out to write a musical that was just right — challenging enough for 12–14-year-olds, yet short and flexible enough to include much younger children. It would be faithful to C. S. Lewis’s vision, with script and music that honoured the heart of the story, and with singable music in a classical style that supports the atmosphere and ideas of the original work.
Above all, our musical had to portray beauty, truth, and goodness.
The Search Begins
In 2022, we set out to find a school production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. We thought it would be easy. It is such a well-loved story, rich in character, adventure and meaning — surely there would be a version that was just right for young performers?
We imagined a script that was faithful to C. S. Lewis’s original story, with beautiful language, memorable music and parts for a wide range of ages. We were excited to bring this extraordinary tale to a new generation.
Nothing Was Quite Right
But as we explored the options, we kept encountering the same challenges.
The most faithful scripts were often too long and too difficult for younger students. Simpler versions left out much of the richness, depth, and beauty of the original story. Some adaptations modernised the language, losing the flavour and character of Lewis’s world. In several versions, the central significance of Aslan’s sacrifice was underplayed. The available musicals tended to use a contemporary pop style, which, while enjoyable, did not capture the timeless, magical atmosphere we wanted.
We kept searching, but nothing we found felt quite right.
"Above all, our musical had to portray beauty, truth, and goodness."
Classical Children’s Plays Is Born
What began with a search for one play soon grew into a wider vision. We realised that there is a real need for high-quality, original productions of classical literature for young people — productions that are faithful, imaginative and accessible, and that speak to the heart as well as the mind.
This was the start of Classical Children’s Plays — a collaborative team of writers, directors, choreography and music contributors, committed to raising children’s theatre to a high standard and creating original stage works based on great English-language literature, centred on truth, goodness and beauty.
What Guides Us
Our work is rooted in a commitment to truth, goodness and beauty — and in the belief that great stories can shape hearts, minds and imaginations.
We preserve the heart and meaning of the original literature.
We choose stories that help young people encounter courage, sacrifice, forgiveness, friendship and virtue.
We believe in beautiful language, music, imagery and theatrical experiences worthy of children.
The Thinking Behind Our Work
Why do the stories children encounter matter? What does classical education have to do with theatre? And what do we mean by truth, goodness and beauty?
Our full philosophy explores these questions in more depth.
Meet the people behind the plays
Our dedicated team of educators, writers and theatre-makers share a love of great stories and a commitment to young people.
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