The Grumpiest Boy in the World
‘In an auditorium filled with young children accompanied by their parents, ‘The Grumpiest Boy’ did not disappoint either audience… A snappy piece of entertainment which managed very successfully to cheer up a chilly afternoon’
Daily Info Oxford, UK
Zachary Briddling, is awfully middling.
His hair sits quite fine. His teeth are aligned. His lines are expected, and his specs nonexistent. So Zachary grumbles (as Zachary does), to which his mum replies: ‘But that is just normal for here’. And she reminds him of all the other places, filled with giants, and miniatures, and hairy things, and flying things – places where Zachary would not be middling at all.
And so he sets out… to stand out.
AWARDS
2015 Published by Currency Press
2014 Australian Writers Guild (AWGIE) Award: Best Australian Children’s Play
2012 ‘New Plays for Young Audiences’ residency at New York University
CAST SIZE
3 or more actors
Previous seasons: 3-30 performers
AUDIENCE SIZE
For ages five and up, all the way to adult
length
50-70 minutes
SEASONS
(Australia, England and USA)
2019
Cairns Performing Arts Centre (produced by Box Jelly)
Charles Campbell College, Adelaide, Australia
2018
Arizona Rep Theatre for Kids, Tempe AZ, USA
Cairns season, Australia (produced by Box Jelly)
Ferny Grove High School, Brisbane, Australia
2017
Childsplay, Tempe AZ, USA (produced by Childsplay)
Tufts University, Boston MA, USA (produced by Magic Circle)
JFK Middle School, Natick MA, USA (produced by JFKMS)
Sydney Grammar, NSW, Australia (produced by Sydney Grammar)
St Michaels College, Adelaide, Australia (produced by St Michaels)
2016
Childsplay, Tempe AZ, USA (produced by Childsplay)
Northwestern University, Evanston IL, USA (Purple Crayon Players)
The Young Company, Cairns, Australia (produced by Young Company)
2015
Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, Australia
(opera version – produced by Victorian Opera)
2013
English national tour
Half Moon Theatre and JW3, London, England
RADA Festival, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, England
Pegasus Theatre, Oxford, England
2012
Provincetown Playhouse, New York University NY, USA
(as part of ‘New Plays for Young Audiences’)
Paper Balloon production 2013, starring Ruth Rogers, Rhys Jennings and Tom Wilson
Songs from UK production by Darren Clark
FIRST PRODUCED
- Commissioned/first produced by Paper Balloon Theatre, 2013
- Developed at Pegasus Theatre (Oxford) and NYU (New York)
- First staged with songs by Darren Clark
- First directed by Katie Boon
- Recommissioned as a children’s opera by Victorian Opera, 2015
- Composed by Joe Twist