The Sword, The Stone & The Kinnelon Library

The Sword In The Stone At The Kinnelon Library

This past Friday, Emma and I attended the Traveling Lantern Theater Company production of The Sword In The Stone at the Kinnelon Library.

If you remember, last December Traveling Lantern performed The Christmas Carol which we enjoyed very much.

For those of you not familiar with The Sword In The Stone, it was written in 1938 by T.H. White and tells the tale of Wart, Merlin and a sword that only one person can pull out of a stone.

"Who so Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of England."

By the end of the production, we learn that Wart is Arthur, King of England.

[Before we got started, Galina Adair from the Kinnelon Children's Library welcomed us and treated us to a few jokes... One was about an egg and an egg beater. I can't exactly remember it, but did find this site filled with egg jokes!]

As with my first Traveling Lantern production, I enjoyed the compact but compelling stage set. Two actors play a multitude of roles which I think really encourages the children to imagine possibilities. Furthermore, the actors involve the children, and then respond to questions about the production, the story, the costumes, the sets.

Here are a few of the photos I took. Above, you'll note the stage set.

Here the actors introduced themselves and described the story. The tall actor - Todd - played the roles of Merlin, Kay [Wart's adoptive brother], and a Knight. The other actor - Jenny - played Wart, a Knight, and eventually became King Arthur.

Here, both actors play old Knights...

who required the services of young squires played by the children. [Emma really got into the part!]

A favorite was Archimedes, Merlin's owl familiar. You can see him perched atop the screen set [note the white fluff ball]. This prop came from England, especially created for theatrical productions.

We had a blast! I'm partial to Arthurian tales and hope that Emma gets into the story of The Sword In The Stone. She likes that [this from the Wikipedia entry] during his training with Merlin, Wart meets up with Robin Hood whom we've become familiar with first through The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and then from watching Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood...

If you attended the program, what did you like most about it?

What were some of your favorite childhood adventure stories?