‘This wasn’t our idea. We didn’t see it coming’
As their hit picture books are brought to the stage in Oi Frog & Friends!, Kes Gray and Jim Field talk about rhyming animals, epic endings and the latest instalment of the Oi! series
Kes and Jim, would you explain what Oi Frog & Friends! Is about?
Kes: In a nutshell, it’s about animal seating arrangements. I’m an animal, where should I sit? Six years ago I was thinking about that very hard. I thought, “Wait a moment David Attenborough, if frogs sit on logs and cats sit on mats, what about all the other animals on the planet? Where are they meant to sit?”. Oi Frog!, the first book, was simply all about that. If you rhyme with something, you sit on it. Some of the seating arrangements are more comfortable than others, but it’s not about comfort, it’s about propriety. Those are the rules that prop up the animal kingdom. Over the last five years, we’ve been telling the world all about it.
So how did the idea for turning the books into a stage show come about, and how did it feel to see the show at its West End premiere in December?
Kes: That wasn’t our idea. We didn’t see it coming. It was a lovely surprise when somebody asked “Can we put it on stage?” but I thought, “I don’t know, can you?” Jim: It’s amazing to see what’s happened since. If they’d adapted it directly from the books it would be a 15-minute show, so they created a backstory around the characters. There’s a whole life for Cat we never knew about! And it all takes place at a school. So it’s given the stories a new life and a depth. Seeing the characters brought to life was both surreal and incredible. It bounces along with non-stop energy!
Kes: It’s brilliant chaos with surprises, songs, amazing puppetry and rhymes that are going to make you laugh. The stage show has taken the Oi! characters to places I could never have imagined.
How much have you been involved with the process?
Jim: We were involved at the early stages, but we’ve let the people who know what they’re doing bring it to life. That’s their specialty. It’s really interesting to see how somebody takes what you’ve known so well for five years and creates something brilliant and different.
Kes: There are a few things I’ve tried to address along the way. I think it’s important for the audience that Oi Frog & Friends! remains faithful to the story because children are super bright and they will know instinctively whether what a character says is true to that character. But there comes a point where, once those things are pinned down and it becomes a theatrical event, you just have to let go and cross your fingers. All concerns go away when it becomes collaborative, and this was collaborative from day one, and lots of fun too. The show is really fun with plenty of surprises. You’ll find out things about Cat you never knew. You’ll find out what sort of school they went to. It is a lovely balance between what the books
have to offer and what a stage performance has to offer.
You’ve sold more than a million books in the Oi Frog! series. How does that feel?
Jim: I can’t visualise it. I keep trying to think of it as if it’s a big stadium that’s full and everyone’s holding a copy of the book. Then I imagine that 10 times over.
Kes: I’ve been writing children’s books for 20 years. For 15 of those, when people have asked “Anything I’d have heard of?” I’ve had to say I write Harry Potter or my name’s David Walliams, because no-one had heard of anything I’d done. Now, for the first time, I tell them and they say “I’ve read Oi Frog!” That’s the nicest thing.
Can you put your finger on what made Oi Frog! different?
Kes: I think the Oi! series has a universal appeal. Teachers like it, librarians like it, children like it and parents like it because they can read between the lines and they know when we’re being tongue in cheek. We’ve been really lucky. I’ve written 80 books now and I know how rare Oi! is. There’s just something about it that everyone embraces. We feel duty bound to keep standards as high as we can and make every book, and stage show, a joy.
You have a new Oi! book out too, Oi Puppies! What’s that about?
Kes: Dog is looking after some puppies. There are puppies everywhere and they’re all really badly behaved. Cat ends up with a puppy hanging from his whiskers.
Jim: Frog has his shorts chewed.
Kes: They have to do something about it and then Frog makes a phone call and sorts the problem. It’s still very much in Oi! territory. Jim: We’re always trying to outdo the ending from the last book as well. I think we’ve done it this time. We were bouncing the ending back and forth nonstop to try and make it as epic as possible. It’s now on a Biblical scale.
How important are stories and theatre for children?
Jim: Absolutely essential. Children should have access to books and parents should be reading to their children every night. I think as much culture as they can experience is a great thing. I still remember seeing Christmas pantos.
Kes: I think it’s massively important for children to do things that take their minds in different directions. You can sit in a chair and travel to the ends of the universe courtesy of a book or a song, but there’s something wonderful about going to the theatre. You get in and you don’t want to leave. It just kind of hugs you.
Oi Frog & Friends! Comes to Nottngham’s Theatre Royal directly from the West End from Friday until Sunday. Tickets: trch.co.uk. 0115 989 5555, £11.50-£13.50.