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  • HOME
  • About Us
  • Work
    • Bubble Wrap
    • Lockdown Tales >
      • Lockdown Tales Full List >
        • Lockdown Tales Readers
      • Lockdown Tales: Folktales
      • Lockdown Tales: Verse
      • Lockdown Tales: Modern Stories
      • Lockdown Tales: Musical Tales
      • The Quangle Wangle's Hat Competition >
        • Competition Gallery
    • Shows >
      • First the Dance, The the Feast
      • The Last Woodwose
      • Return of the Wildman
      • Strange Fish
      • YES: The Adrian Mitchell Show
      • The Dead Moon
      • Maps of Desire
      • Tatterhood
      • The Wolf Road
      • Birth of Pleasure
      • The Six Swans
      • The Nightingale
      • Now and Then
      • Behind the Scenes at Mary Warner's
      • Memories of Suffolk
    • Schools >
      • First the Dance, The the Feast
      • I Am a Woodwose
      • Abiyoyo & the Musicians of Bremen
      • The Coat of Umpteen Pockets
      • Little Red Chunni
    • Family Shows >
      • First the Dance, The the Feast
      • Orla Tour
      • Orla's Moon
      • Orla and the Sun
      • The Swineherd and The Princess & The Pea
    • Festivals >
      • How Night Came from the Sea
      • Storm of Stories 2016
      • Storm of Stories 2014
      • Storm of Stories 2012
    • Events >
      • Wild Woods
      • 25 Years of Wonderful Beast
      • Bottom's Dream
      • SPLASH!
      • Music Matters Most
      • Almeida Theatre Benefits
    • Podcast: Stories from the Archives
  • WB Singers
  • Whispers
  • Contact
  • Our Team
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YOUR CART

Lockdown tales
(BBC Radio Suffolk and online worldwide, 2020)

A PODCAST SERIES SENDING STORIES TO CHILDREN ​
​DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS

‘Wonderful and innovative at this difficult time’ -- MACMILLAN CHILDREN'S BOOKS

LISTEN VIA OUR WEBSITE BY CHOOSING FROM THE BELOW:
FOLKTALES LIBRARY AND ACTIVITIES
VERSE LIBRARY AND ACTIVITIES
MODERN STORIES LIBRARY AND ACTIVITIES

OR FIND THE TALES ON: ​ SPOTIFY   ·   STITCHER   ·   SOUNDCLOUD  ·   ITUNES ​


Click here for the full library of tales

click here for the full list of readers


In March 2020, a quarter of the world’s population went into some form of lockdown. Wonderful Beast put aside glitchy Zoom calls and manic WhatsApp groups for a moment of calm, turning back to the intimate simplicity and timeless magic of the bedtime story, in an extraordinary goodwill collaboration involving over thirty artists.

As the  theatre company of folk and fairy tales, myths and legends, we brought together a fantastic array of readers performing much-loved stories and poems, classic and contemporary, to children sharing in the human experience of being grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, and friends separated from their families and loved ones, due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Stories were shared for free with children worldwide, bringing together families across the globe through the power of stories (we discovered a large number of our listeners were as far away as Hong Kong!). Readers included established and upcoming actors, musicians, children’s authors reading their own stories, a dancer, opera singer and poet, with stories and poems often dedicated to their own loved ones.

Lockdown Tales has been kindly supported by publishers Nosy Crow, MacMillan Children’s Books, Penguin Random House (UK and New Zealand), Harper Collins, White Fox Publishing, and Andersen Press. We are ever-grateful to our funders, the Frank Jackson Foundation, Suffolk Community Foundation, Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust and Scarfe Charitable Trust, and to all those individuals who have contributed to our project.
 
Educational resources for home and school
As children returned to educational settings in September, Lockdown Tales and their story-linked activities (see the stories to find which have these) have remained available as a rich educational resource. 

​The ongoing aim is to encourage a love of stories, stimulate imagination, enable discussion, inspire creative writing and offer performance opportunities to engender joy into people’s lives, young and old alike. We are working with schools and libraries to develop new ways of using the material Lockdown Tales has created. We would love to hear from any libraries, home-schooling groups and schools interested in working with us. You can contact us here.

​CHILDREN'S RESPONSES - WE WANT YOU TO JOIN IN!
​
We are inviting children to respond creatively to the stories by engaging with resources and activities on our website. 
Tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or email us at [email protected] ​with pictures and videos of your creations.

AUDIENCE COMMENTS:

'My grandson often asks for the Wonderful Beast Lockdown stories at mealtimes. It's great for me as it helps to keep him seated at the table rather than running around between mouthfuls!'

'Absolutely loving this series - some great voices and stories my kids love as well as folk tales I'd never heard before.'

'Such a lovely thing for children stuck at home. Brilliant readers, lovely stories.
My daughter keeps asking to hear them again. Highly recommend.'

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From our COMPOSER AND musician, sylvia hallett:

My grandson, Pablo, is 3 and loves choosing the stories himself and pressing 'play'. It's nice that the stories run on so he may get to hear one he hasn't heard before. His favourite at the moment is 'How the Beetle got its Colours'. He likes 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', 'I Love You Blue Kangaroo', and depending on his mood sometimes the Three Little Pigs, sometimes Jack and the Beanstalk, and the Vain Little Mouse, even though these have menacing characters in them. He likes the rhythm of the Old Woman and her Pig, even though the words are quite violent, but they go rollicking on in cause and effect. The tales are a huge success with him. Plus he sometimes comments on the introduction music...'that's Granny!'


funders

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​The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust
Scarfe Charitable Trust

Lockdown Tales is a free resource and Wonderful Beast relies solely on the support of funders and donors. All contributions, however small, are hugely appreciated. Please help us to keep this project running as long as possible by making a donation, if you can.

Publishers

Andersen Press; Harper Collins; MacMillan Children’s Books; ​Nosy Crow; ​Penguin Random House (UK and New Zealand); ​White Fox Publishing.

readers (C lick here  to find out more)

creatives

Julia Adlard
Julia Blackburn
Martin Bonger

​Ann Bryson
Sally-Ann Burnett
​Rosalind Burt
Jonathan Buxton
Emma Chichester Clark
​Alfie Enoch
​Vincent Franklin
​Hugh Fraser
Theo Fraser Steele
​
Ann Firbank​
Rob Gildon
​Hilary Greatorex
​William Hackett-Jones
​
Jenny Hall ​
Emily Holt
​Rob Jarvis
Gemma Jones
Veronica Lamond
Morven Macbeth
​Petra Markham
Sasha Mitchell
Sophie Neville

Bethany O'Halloran
Dean Parkin
​Ann Penfold
​Matt Prendergast
Diana Quick
Prathap Ramachandra
Montserrat Roig de Puig
​Martina Schwarz
Anusha Subramanyam
Cleo Sylvestre
Penelope Wilton
Sam Wright
Alys Kihl
​Emma Close-Brooks

music

Sylvia Hallett (main theme)

Rob Gildon
Veronica Lamond
Sasha Mitchell
Prathap Ramachandra
​
Martina Schwarz

Gemma Jones
Vincent Franklin
Rob Gildon
Sasha Mitchell
Emma Chichester Clark
Alfie Enoch
Theo Fraser Steele
Hilary Greatorex
Dame Penelope Wilton
Cleo Sylvestre
Julia Adlard
Hugh Fraser
Sally Ann Burnett
Rosalind Burt
Emily Holt
Julia Blackburn
Sylvia Hallett
Sophie Neville
Sam Wright
Ann Bryson
Will Hackett-Jones
Montserrat Roig de Puig
Petra Markham
Rob Jarvis
Ann Firbank
Bethany O'Halloran
Veronica Lamond
Dean Parkin
Diana Quick
Jenny Hall
Matt Prendergast
Ann Penfold
Martina Schwarz
Anusha Subramanyam
Morven Macbeth
Prathap Ramachandra

STORIES FOR GROWN-UPS AND OLDER CHILDREN

​Our Stories from the Archives podcast has a bank of fantastic folk tales told by some of our most famous actors. They're
funny, touching and brilliantly performed. Available on Spotify, iTunes and through the website, you can take a look here to listen online.
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LOOKING FOR MORE YOUNG CHILDREN'S STORIES?
​

​Many of you will remember our Early Years productions Orla and the Sun and Orla's Moon, and the 2018 Orla Tour. Audio versions of the stories have now been made available online through Shining Cat, and you can listen here: Orla and the Sun / Orla's Moon. 
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​​​LOOKING FOR MORE ACTIVITIES?

​Our partners at Early Arts have created the Early Arts' Creative Care Package: a quarterly e-bulletin, jam-packed with creative ideas, training events and research to help make life a little more exciting.
Find out more and sign up for some great ideas here.
​
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