Little Criminals and Other Plays for Children

This collection features three inventive and imaginative plays for children aged eight to eleven, written by award-winning playwright Evan Placey. Each offers ideal material to read, study and perform, and can be staged flexibly with large, mixed casts.

In Little Criminals, a group of fairytale characters find themselves on trial. The evidence is not in dispute: empty porridge bowls and broken chairs; a cut-down beanstalk and a smashed golden egg; a dead witch in an oven. But how clear-cut is guilt? Originally commissioned by the participatory theatre project Playhouse in 2014, the play has been performed by youth groups across the UK.

Keepy Uppytells the story of ten-year-old Joey who just wants to make it to the pitch in time to play in the cup final, but life keeps getting in the way. Contending with shrunken uniforms, missing oranges and empty asthma inhalers, will he make it before the ref blows his whistle? Written in verse, the play was first presented in 2018 by Tutti Frutti, on a tour of the UK.

In WiLd!, Billy feels like one of the buzzing bees in his dad’s hives. Constantly in trouble as a result of his ADHD, nobody seems to understand how difficult it is for him to 'just sit still'. A collaboration between Tutti Frutti and CANDAL at Nottingham University, it premiered in 2016.