Roarsome fun for families when Zog the dragon flies into Derbyshire

Large in size and keen in nature, Zog is eager to win a golden star at Madam Dragon’s school. He tries so very hard as he bumps, burns and roars his way through years one, two and three.Luckily, the plucky Princess Pearl patches him up ready to face his biggest challenge yet...a duel with knight, Sir Gadabout the Great!

The show tours to Chesterfield’s Winding Wheel in September and will be presented by Freckle Productions (the team behind Tiddler and Other Terrific Tales and Tabby McTat).

Performances will take place at 4.30pm on Friday, September 25, 11am and 2pm on September 26 and September 27.

Julia Donaldson’s story was published in 2010 and won the Galaxy National Children’s Book of the Year Award.

She said: “My editor said it would be lovely to have a story about a dragon, so I started thinking about it and the name Madame Dragon came into my head.

“And then I thought what could Madame Dragon do, who could she be?’ I came up with various ideas and a schoolteacher was one of them. Originally it was going to be about a knight and a dragon, but it ended up being about a princess and a dragon.

“Sir Gadabout is one of my favourite comic characters because he’s such an upper-class twit.”

Julia said that adapting her stories for the stage is like working with an illustrator. “Handing it over to a theatre company or film company you know it’s going to change a bit; the end product will be a blend of my words and their artistic vision.

“If it’s a good show, parents love to see that their children - even very young ones - can just be transfixed by it.”

Details: Tickets £17.50. Go to www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk

READ THIS: Award-winning show The Red Shoes will screen at Derbyshire theatre.