Kids’ Tails

Written and produced by Martin D. French

Assistant Director – Aiste Ptakauske

St. Patrick’s College Drama Society Award, SOSCAR, for the Best External Impact of 2000-01

Full production at St. Patrick’s College (a College of Dublin City University), Dublin, Ireland in 2001

“Kid’s Tails” is an attempt to investigate some of the darker edges of the child’s experience in the world, through the lens of some of the folk and fairy tales that have become a part of the canon of bedtime stories. The play freely interprets five traditional stories in five very different ways, some in the surroundings we imagine the original, some closer to the world we now live in, some in a dark and fearful other place. While the modern Disney-fied versions work towards a happily ever after, the cautionary element from centuries past is still present in this adaptation of those works.

When the playstation breaks on what is meant to be an easy night’s babysitting, the kids are told a cautionary of a wicked storyteller who seduces children with stories that he can later devour them. As that tale develops, we hear the stories that the story teller uses to cast his spell: the story of a Snow Queen who offers children all manner of presents to follow her; a beautiful pale child who is detested by the Queen; a girl worked hard and treated badly by her wicked step-mother and sisters; the virtuous daughter who runs away to escape her father’s wickedness, but eventually finds her happily ever after; the meeting between a wolf and a young girl on her way to her grandmother’s.

Written to accommodate a potentially large cast, “Kid’s Tails” can be performed by as few as six. As it is composed of five stories amid a double frame, it is ideal for giving first time directors a chance to explore working on a complete story without the pressure of managing a full production.

“Kid’s Tails” was possibly the first really major scale production I attempted to write, and certainly it was the largest piece I had attempted to mount at the time. I was filled with the ideals and energy of youth that make possible what should be implausible, pushing one to learn the new skills necessary to get through it, convincing oneself – and others – that the gaps remaining will be covered by the importance of the project. But I was luckier than most with this. When I was laying out my plans for “Kid’s Tails”, Aiste Ptakauske strolled in, freshly arrived in Ireland, but already anxious to put her talents and energies to good use. And that good end was ultimately to the production’s benefit. On many levels she provided assistance and advice, support and enthusiasm, a willingness to explore the possibilities, and a contrasting perspective to my own thoughts. Her formal duties were as assistant director and actor, but that fails to appreciate her contribution. Unlike the many others involved in the process, she was able to offer a perspective on the show as a whole, understanding and appreciating the arc of the piece, as only a writer or director truly could. Consequently, she had a significant influence on script editing and on the directing, both in style and in substance: she helped to shape the piece into something much more than I could have seen. It is thanks to her influence in many of my practices in mounting the show that it became the first production I mounted that I can say with confidence was an artistic success.

Martin D. French