Of mice and monsters…
Creeping onto the Dubai stage this month is from writer Julia Donaldson
If, as Fellini famously insisted, “all art is autobiographical”, one could be forgiven for wondering where the life story is in Julia Donaldson’s work. After all, when your art is all about talking mice and imaginary monsters, real life must seem quite distant.
But the author has no doubt about her work reflecting her reality, now that it has become so prolific she sees Gruffalos wherever she goes. “I mean, I do feel quite like the mouse in the story,” she laughs. “You know, ‘Oh! That’s the Gruffalo – I thought it was just in my imagination.’”
He might have started life as a vague image in her mind’s eye, but Gruffalo is now present in any household with small children, as commonplace as plastic bricks and teddy bears. Despite having sat for a year, unread, in the drawer of the first publisher she sent it to, the book has since become a worldwide phenomenon, translated into more than 40 languages, and made into a touring stage play and an animated film. It has sparked an unprecedented amount of merchandising, too (Donaldson has a Gruffalo room in her home, necessary to store the cuddly toys, T-shirts, mugs, notebooks and other goods bearing her most famous creation).
Donaldson herself, a songwriter by trade who fell into publishing when one of her verses was put into print, has become something of a phenomenon, with an astonishing 160 works for children now published. From 2013 to 2014 she was Britain’s bestselling author – more of her rhymes were sold than copies of Harry Potter or Fifty Shades Of Grey. Forty per cent of British picture book spending is on pages bearing her name. But despite the success, Donaldson remains modest. “I think you get more appreciation than probably strictly you’re due, because parents so love their children that if you come in to that little magic world, they probably think you’re more wonderful than you actually are.” October 2 and 3
Madinat Theatre, Souk Madinat, Dubai, Fri and Sat 10.30am, 2pm, 4.30pm, Dhs135. Tel: (04) 3666546. Taxi: Souk Madinat. madinattheatre.com