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Based on the books by Babette Cole

Co-produced with The Wardrobe Ensemble

Princess Smartypants is a very unusual princess – and so Babette Cole’s books present a very unusual fairy-tale, in which expectations of princes and princesses, kings and queens, dungeons and dragons are turned completely upside down.

Originally published in 1986, Princess Smartypants is a classic of feminist revisionism for children. It has now been translated into 32 languages and sold a million copies worldwide.

In 2023, Wayward Productions will adapt these charming yet subversive books for stage, in collaboration with The Wardrobe Ensemble. You will enter the world of Princess Smartypants and her friends, including her menagerie of Dragonocodiles, Pollycrocs and other monstrous pets. You’ll even get to meet some of the hapless princes – those the princess hasn’t turned into toads!

Babette Cole’s books celebrate the importance of making your own rules for living, and so Wayward’s co-production with the Wardrobe Ensemble will appeal to independent-minded children and adults alike. For tour dates and more follow us or join our mailing list.

Illustration © Babette Cole

“Babette Cole…is funny, unrestricted and totally unforgettable”

The Independent

“authors such as Cole are as needed as ever”

The Guardian

We are delighted to be working with The Wardrobe Ensemble, an award-winning company founded in Bristol in 2011. The company has produced a variety of shows for families and young audiences including The Star Seekers (NT and tour), RIOT and 33 (UK and international tour). Their other work includes 1972: The Future of Sex, which won The Stage Award for Acting Excellence in 2015, Fringe First Award-winning show Education, Education, Education, which transferred to the West End in 2019, The Last of the Pelican Daughters and Mog – the Forgetful Cat, which premiered at Northampton’s Royal & Derngate in 2022 “…..A miaow-vellous musical treat” The Guardian

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