Molly Cheesley’s Alicia Johns, left, Eden Barrie’s Mary-Lou Atkinson, Robyn Sinclair’s Darrell Rivers, Bethany Wooding’s Sally Hope and Rebecca Collingwood’s Gwendoline Lacey in Emma Rice Company’s Malory Towers. Picture: Steve Tanner
ENID Blyton’s Malory Towers, the original post-war “Girl Power” story, was staged for the first time in a co-production by Emma Rice’s Wise Children company and York Theatre Royal in 2019, playing York in all-too-short stay that September.
Roll forward to 2026, when Rice now trades as the Emma Rice Company, for the school half-term visit to Leeds Playhouse of her revival of her “happy Lord Of The Flies”, as she calls her adaptation of the “naughty, nostalgic and perfect for now Malory Towers”, now touring in tandem with London’s Alexandra Palace Theatre, Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre, Manchester HOME and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse. It is indeed perfect for half-term, judging by Thursday’s matinee, packed with children and their mums.
Writer-director Rice read Blyton stories, Famous Five and Secret Seven capers but not Malory Towers, in her contrasting, inner-city Nottingham comprehensive schooldays in the 1970s, but found herself drawn back to the Cornish cliff tops she knew so well in her groundbreaking Kneehigh theatre days.
This Cornwall is Blyton’s Cornwall of the Blighty 1950s: school days of midnight feasts, pillow fights and an outdoor swimming pool, when “lucky girls have the chance… to be returned back to the world sensible, sound and strong… women that the world can lean on”.
Stephanie Hockley’s Irene Dupont, at the piano, with violinist Emily Panes and Molly Cheesley’s Alicia Jones. Picture: Steve Tanner
To emphasise why the stories are “perfect for now” in their school report on growth and growing up, Rice opens with a modern-day school setting, with doors not only to the headmaster’s office, but also to that symbol of changed times, the welfare officer’s office, beneath those imposing towers.
The children are displaying the same characteristics as they will once they morph into their Malory Towers selves, transformed as if in a dream once Eden Barrie, gawky and gauche in a fairy outfit, has been walloped on the head with a copy of Malory Towers.
Later this will be mirrored by the Malory Towers pupils enacting a fairy world scene from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, again with the girls’ own tropes influencing the choice of roles.
An electric charge of excitement spreads through the audience for an Emma Rice show like no other, and as ever you are smiling, beaming, from the effervescent, jollier-than-hockey sticks start when Benny Goodman’s Sing Sing Sing sets the ball rolling for a series of delightful, dazzling songs, some originals by Ian Ross (music) and Rice (lyrics), others takes on Edith Piaf’s Mon Menage A Moi, Sammy Fain’s I Can Dream Can’t I? and Pat Ballard’s Mr Sandman.
Cut up: Rebecca Collingwood’s spiteful Gwendoline Lacey, craving a switch to a Swiss finishing school in Malory Towers. Picture: Steve Tanner
One by one, Rice lets the new Malory Towers intake introduce themselves as the “deliciously naughty”, corny joke-loving West Country second-year pupil Alicia Johns (Molly Cheesley) welcomes the girls and their suitcase onto the Paddington train bound for the Cornish coast.
We meet Barrie’s bag-of-nerves, constantly apologetic Scottish pupil Mary-Lou Atkinson; returnee Rebecca Collingwood’s even-beastlier-than-in-2019 Gwendoline Lacey; Bethany Wooding’s ever-so-proper, prim and pucker Sally Hope and Robyn Sinclair’s furnace-hot-tempered, fierce-hearted Darrell Rivers, this production’s stand-out.
LIPA-trained Stephanie Hockley’s French student Irene Dupont, so free of spirit and musical to the tips of her piano-playing fingers, has a lead singer’s sense of melody and is humorous too in her head-strong character’s exasperation. To her side is violinist Emily Panes, so key to the beautiful arrangements. Along for the ride too comes Zoe West’s horse-loving Wilhemina “Call me Bill” Robinson, whose late arrival adds an air of mystery.
All is orchestrated by director Rice at a cracking pace, her ingenuity, inventive flair and sense of mischief complemented by Lez Brotherston’s typically witty, playful set and costume designs. The beds are employed so imaginatively in Alistair David’s choreography, while Simon Baker’s sound and video design and Beth Carter and Stuart Mitchell’s dream sequence animation are filled with the visual and verbal humour synonymous with the snap, crackle and pop of Rice’s crisply delivered shows.
Zoe West’s Bill Robinson in Malory Towers. Picture: Steve Tanner
From the rail route graphics from London to Cornwall to the furiously fast stride pattern of Bill’s animated heroic horse; from a swimming pool scene with Busby Berkeley swimsuit panache and puppet divers to a “Cliffhanger” punchline to end the first act; from a chalkboard to the shadow-puppet figure of headmistress Miss Grayling (voiced by Dame Sheila Hancock, no less), Malory Towers keeps delighting and amusing with its imagery.
Amid Blyton’s high jinks, high drama and high spirits, the performances from Rice’s typically diverse cast are ripe with personality and individuality beneath the uniformity of the school dress code.
Rice adds her own touches to the script, be it a Jackson Pollock drip-painting reference or, more gravely, the damaging, life-altering effect of the war on a father, to the cost of his troubled daughter. Part Blyton, wholly Rice, this Malory Towers is fun, feminist, joyful, old-fashioned yet fresh, championing compassion, inclusivity and freedom of expression with flair, fire and faith in the transformative power of education and theatre alike.
Emma Rice Company in Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers, Leeds Playhouse, tonight, 7.30pm; tomorrow, 2pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Emma Rice
Q & A with Emma Rice, director of Malory Towers
What inspired you to adapt Malory Towers for the stage, Emma?
“These books make me joyfully tumble back through history. I tumble through memories of my own scary comprehensive, to stories of my Mum’s Dorset grammar school and then to my Gran, who was an untrained teacher in the war. All of these stories have one thing in common – growing up. And Malory Towers, in my opinion, is the best of all growing-up stories! Funny, sharply well observed and fantastically moreish, these books are a pure delight.
“However, beyond the adventures and cliff-top thrills, I wanted to capture that time, just after the Second World War. A time where people were bruised and damaged but resolute about creating a better future. A future without cruelty, violence and hatred.
“Within these deceptively simple books, all these themes are gently explored. The challenge that Enid Blyton sets for us in these gorgeous books, stands the test of time as she asks us to be ‘women that the world can lean on’. If you haven’t already gathered, I love them.”
You initially took Malory Towers on tour in 2019. How does it feel to be returning to the play and why did you decide to bring it back now?
“Oh, I am thrilled to be returning to Malory Towers! There is something exciting about a new class and a new term. We have done some fantastic new work on the design, so it will feel like a box fresh new uniform. Why now? I think we are all ready for some hope and some fun and this will feel like spring has finally come.
“In these difficult and uncertain political times, this is exactly what we all need. A good time underpinned by kind and inclusive values.”
Did it feel daunting to take on such a beloved piece of work?
“How could I be daunted by something I feel such an affinity to? I feel I know these girls and have relished bringing them to theatrical life. Girls are much the same now as they were in 1945. I don’t think being scared helps anybody do anything, so I try hard in my working life to work instinctively, respectfully and joyfully.”
How will you integrate sound and music into Malory Towers?
“This production has the most virtuosic score and soundtrack. My cast are all exceptional singers and the close harmony songs will knock your socks off! We have gorgeous tunes from the time, mixed with newly composed songs by Ian Ross, my long-term collaborator. The result is soaring, impressive and moving.
“All this as well as specially created animation and soundscape by Simon Baker and artist Beth Carter. I wanted this show to feel astonishing, just like young women are to me – and it really is!”
How do you balance putting your own stamp onto Blyton’s work? Is it tricky to deviate from the source material?
“I haven’t deviated too much from the books. The characters are all very true to Enid Blyton, as is the setting and message. Yes, I wove together the best bits from all the books and swapped the pantomime for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but this is absolutely the Malory Towers you all know and love.”
Is this show one for all the family to enjoy?
“Absolutely. This is a world that all the family can and should enjoy. The themes of friendship, compassion and hope resonate across gender, time, class and culture. It’s a cracking yarn, yes, but this deceptively simple subject matter really does give us all a chance to reflect. It allows us a moment to think about growing up, about war, empathy and about our own part in history.
“In a time when lots of us can feel hopeless and powerless (especially the young), this magic show gives us back a sense of community, agency and shared responsibility.”
What is the importance to you of creating new work outside London?
“For me, I have always made my best work out of London. There seems to be more time and space to focus and the work in turn becomes deeper and more rooted. Things can sometimes get lost in London but opening in Bath, our home venue, we can shine and shout as bright and as loud as we please. Like the wonderful girls at Malory Towers!”
Finally, why should theatre-goers see Malory Towers?
“Because it is pure entertainment and pure joy. It has everything; music, puppetry, film… and a cliff-top rescue! It really is for everybody and gives us all the lift we need in these dark times. Shake off the winter and dive into this cool and sparkling production.”
