Picture This

Picture This will feature six popular children’s books that have a strong visual identity on the page and have also been vividly brought to life on stage.  

Each section of the free family exhibition will include illustrations and artwork from the books – which range from much-loved modern works to iconic classics. Alongside will be filmed extracts from stage productions, with a variety of props, costumes, designs and posters. 

Throughout there will be interactive opportunities for visitors to draw, write, perform, read and play and even devise their own production ideas. At the heart of the exhibition will be a stage, featuring daily readings of the featured books and many other titles, as well as performance, music-making and artist-led workshops. 

Floella Benjamin, one of the authors featured in this exhibition, tell us that ‘childhood lasts a lifetime’.  As children, the pictures we looked at, the words we read, the stories we were told – all could inspire us, transport us, challenge us and reassure us forever.

The six books / productions featured in Picture This are: 

• Room on the Broom, by former Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson and longtime collaborator Axel Scheffler, is a much-loved tale about a witch and her gang of friends.  It is presented on stage by Tall Stories, and will be at The Lowry from Wednesday 7 December 2022 to Sunday 8 January 2023.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll and illustrated here by Chris Riddell, was first published in 1865 and became an instant and enduring success.  It has since been presented on stage at the Royal Opera House.
• Coming to England, by Floella Benjamin, with illustrations by Diane Ewen, is a triumphant true story celebrating the Windrush Generation, recently seen on stage at Birmingham Rep.
• Wild is by Emily Hughes, who grew up in Hawaii, and whose story of a little girl, raised outdoors but forced to live in the city, is bold and passionate.  It was recently presented by Unicorn Theatre in association with How It Ended.
• You Choose, by Nick Sharratt and Pippa Goodhart, gives the reader all the ingredients for them to make a new story every time they open the book.  It is regularly toured on stage by Nonsense Room Productions.
• The Little Prince, the story of a little adventurer from planet B-612 by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with illustrations here by Chris Riddell, was written in 1943 and is one of the best-selling and most translated books ever published.  Protein Dance bring it to life using a mix of dance, humour, singing and spoken word.