Toad of Toad Hall

For the character, see Mr. Toad.

Poster for a 2008 theatrical production of Toad of Toad Hall

Toad of Toad Hall is a play written by A. A. Milne – the first of several dramatisations of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows – with incidental music by Harold Fraser-Simson. It was originally produced by William Armstrong at the Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool, on 21 December 1929.

Background and first productions

For his stage version of Grahame's book, the humorist and playwright A. A. Milne concentrated on the adventures of Mr Toad, which make up about half of the original book, because they lent themselves most easily to being staged. He loved Grahame's book, which is one of the reasons he decided to adapt it. He wrote in the introduction to the published play:

There are familiarities which we will allow only ourselves to take. Your hands and my hands are no cleaner than anybody else's hands, yet the sort of well-thumbed bread-and-butter which we prefer is that on which we have placed our own thumbs. It may be that to turn Mr Kenneth Grahame into a play is to leave unattractive finger-marks all over him, but I love his books so much that I cannot bear to think of anybody else disfiguring them. That is why I accepted a suggestion, which I should have refused in the case of any other book as too difficult for me, that I should dramatize The Wind in the Willows.

The first production was at the Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool, on 21 December 1929, under the direction of William Armstrong. The first London productions were at the Lyric Theatre on 17 December 1930 and the Savoy Theatre on 22 December 1931.

Original casts

	Liverpool, 1929	Lyric, 1930	Savoy, 1931
Nurse	Mamie Hunt	Mona Jenkins	Mona Jenkins
Marigold	Katrina Kaufmann	Wendy Toye	Nova Pilbeam
The Mole	Alan Webb	Richard Goolden	Richard Goolden
The Water Rat	Lloyd Pearson	Ivor Barnard	A. Cameron Hall
Mr Badger	Wyndham Goldie	Eric Stanley	Eric Stanley
Toad	Leslie Kyle	Frederick Burtwell	Frederick Burtwell
Alfred	Peter Mather	R. Halliday Mason	R. Halliday Mason
Back Legs of Alfred	Martin Hyde	Frank Snell	Frank Snell
Chief Weasel	Nelson Welch	Ronald Alpe	Robert Hughes
Chief Stoat	John Guinness	William McGuigan	Leslie Stroud
Chief Ferret	John Robinson	Alfred Fairhurst	Neal Alston
First Field-Mouse	Sally Lockhart	Gordon Tucker	Jim Neal
Second Field-Mouse	Audrey Wilson	Robert Sinclair	Jim Soloman
Policeman	Herbert Bickerstaff	Alban Blakelock	Alban Blakelock
Gaoler	Basil Nairn	Alfred Fairhurst	Robert Hughes
Judge	James Harcourt	Alfred Clark	Tom Reynolds
Usher	Alfred Sangster	Humphrey Morton	Beeson King
Turkey	Lorraine Cromarty	Gordon Tucker	Jim Soloman
Duck	Trevor Reid	Robert Sinclair	Jim Neal
Phoebe	Joan Harker	Joan Harker	Wendy Toye
Washerwoman	Marjorie Fielding	Dorothy Fane	Dorothy Fane
Mama Rabbit	Elizabeth Ripley	Phyllis Coulthard	Phyllis Coulthard
Harold Rabbit	Doris Forrest	Marcus Haig	Jim Ned
Lucy Rabbit	Kathleen Boutcher	Daphne Allen	Daphne Allen
Barge-Woman	Pauline Lacey	Francis Waring	Muriel Johnston

Sources: The Stage (1929); The Era (1930); and playscript (1931).

Synopsis

The play comprises a prologue, four acts and an epilogue:

• Prologue and Act 1

• Down by the Willows

• Act II

• 1. The Wild Wood
• 2. Badger's House
• 3. The Same. Some Weeks Later

• Act III

• 1. The Court-House
• 2. The Dungeon
• 3. The Canal Bank

• Act IV

• 1. Rat's House By The River
• 2. The Underground Passage
• 3. The Banqueting-Room at Toad Hall

• Epilogue

• The Wind in the Willows

Music

Although not a musical, the play contains six songs, with music written by Harold Fraser-Simson.

Revivals

The play was revived in the West End each year from 1932 to 1935, and was next seen there in 1954, in a production first seen at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, with Leo McKern as Toad, William Squire as Rat, Edward Atienza as Mole and Brewster Mason as Badger.

Adaptations

The play was adapted by BBC television in 1947: Toad of Toad Hall.

External links

• Toad of Toad Hall 1961–62 production, with a cast including Ian McKellen