The Box of Delights: Or When the Wolves Were Running (Kay Harker)

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Despite the honour of being placed ahead of Shakespeare at the theatre’s opening, Masefield was largely forgotten today, he said. “There are two poems, Sea-Fever and Cargoes, which John Betjeman once said would be remembered as long as the language lasts, and actually those two still are quite well known in certain circles, if you ask carefully. Then there’s The Box of Delights, which is still relatively well known. But otherwise, he’s completely sunk without a trace.”

Then there's Kay. People offer Kay money, mysterious and fabulous gifts, opportunities to time travel and experience magical events, and speak of him and to him as though he is the King of England. No reason is given for this. He does not appear to be nobility, particularly smart, or particularly good looking. He lives in a manor house, has an endless supply of funds, and his only guardian is "the beautiful Caroline Louisa." Where are his parents? Who is Caroline Louisa? At first I thought she was his sister, but she's more like a nanny, I guess. He's apparently so wonderful that all he needs in the way of guardianship is a beautiful young woman to cater to his every whim.

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What was THAT?! Why did the girls go in and the boys didn't? Girls are more obedient, and boys are rebellious? Girls prefer the comforts of the indoors instead of adventures outside? Girls can't handle the rigors of a wintery day, but boys can? And after all the fuss they made about Maria being so hardy and so capable in the face of adversity and adventure, etc.. etc... The opening and closing title music features an orchestral arrangement of " The First Nowell" extracted from the third movement of the Carol Symphony by Victor Hely-Hutchinson. It had been used for earlier radio adaptations and has become synonymous with the story. [5] Big Finish 2021 [ edit ] It starts well with some very atmospheric scenes – the men on the train and Cole Hawkins magic show are particularly good, as are the trips to the fort – but as it goes on it has become very repetitive and convoluted. How many times do we have to have Kay 'go small' to spy on Abner talking to himself in exposition to reveal endless details of the non existent plot? What I admire most in other writers is originality of vision—books that work on different levels and hold something for any reader, child or adult. A book like John Masefield's Box of Delights, for example, published in the 1930s but startlingly innovative and subtly influential.

So far, so fairly traditional children's fantasy. But its Christmas setting in a snowbound corner of England (with particular resonances for this very festive season - all the grown-ups conspire to be snowed in elsewhere, leaving the children pretty much alone to enjoy their travails) and the dreamy, poetic language of author John Masefield come together to make it something of a seasonal classic that certainly bears repeat readings year after year. Dr Philip W Errington, a senior specialist at Peter Harrington Rare Books, leading antiquarian specialists, and an expert on Masefield, has been working with the RSC as a consultant on The Box of Delights, which will be performed at the RST between 31 October and 7 January.

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Stephen Boxer is a genial Hawlings, Richard Lynch an increasingly comical Abner and Claire Price relishes the expanded role of witch Sylvia Daisy Pouncer. Tom Kanji as a conman (“ha-ha … what?” languidly ending his sentences) is one of several to capture the feel of the era. It is all deftly done, not so much scrobbling as gently leading us into Masefield-land. Dreamy and poetic … those descriptions are rather important in The Box of Delights. The novel was first published in 1935, and the author, John Masefield, was poet laureate from 1930 until he died in 1967. His prose trips along like a hallucinogenic daydream at times, especially when Kay takes advantage of the box's powers – he can use it to go swift, to go small, and to fall into the past, where he meets a succession of characters including Herne the Hunter of English folklore.

Caught up in a battle between two powerful magicians, Kay fights to save not just the people he loves but also the future of Christmas itself. A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", 1823) attributed to Clement Clarke Moore Le Père Martin" (1888) by Ruben Saillens and unwittingly plagiarized as " Papa Panov's Special Christmas" by Leo Tolstoy The dream cliche' makes me feel like I've wasted my time somehow, ESPECIALLY because 'The Midnight Folk' was JUST as magical and hard-to-believe (if you don't use imagination), yet it was all proclaimed true. There was NO reason whatsoever to write this off as a dream. None. I'm disappointed.

Twas the Night Before Christmas: Edited by Santa Claus for the Benefit of Children of the 21st Century" (2012) being Pamela McColl "smoke-free" edit of Clement Clarke Moore's poem I’ve often thought that I’d like to return to the full, original novel someday and see what I think of it now. Looking into editions of the real book, I learned that the story’s protagonist, Kay Harker, also appears in an earlier novel by Masefield, The Midnight Folk. So I started with that one and then went straight on into The Box of Delights (both in the New York Review edition). As an ending, that is; the book itself has plenty of faults along the way. It is a grab bag of early 20th century children’s book tropes, and some just don’t quite work, not at this remove. But some very much do, particularly the snowy, wintry, Christmassy bits. a b Kingsley, Madeleine (17 November 1984), "A Box Full of Magic", Radio Times, pp.101–103 , retrieved 14 October 2017

John Masefield (June 1, 1878—May 12, 1967) was an English poet, writer and the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1930 until 1967.Mention is made of a "Boy" who apparently can tell the future. Who is this Boy? Where did he come from? Why is he working for, or in the clutches of, Abner? Is he there against his will? Is he a normal boy with magical abilities, or is he a magical fairy boy, or is he part of a mystical priesthood of fortune tellers? Who is this person? We don't KNOW! We will never know. Because this plot is crap and it doesn't explain anything. So little Maria gets kidnapped, and for days and days no one minds. No one is out looking for her. The police are informed, but they don't care either. "Oh, she'll turn up somewhere," they say. "Maria always lands on her feet. She'll probably join the gang, and teach them a thing or two." Piers Torday (30 November 2017). "Long before Harry Potter, The Box of Delights remade children's fantasy". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 January 2018. Describing Masefield’s work as “magnificent”, he said: “It warrants a revival. The RSC putting on the play is a great thing … a wonderful Christmas story.” John Masefield, poet laureate of the U.K. from 1930 till his death in 1967, is perhaps best known for his poem “Sea Fever” (“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky”). He was also, however, one of the finest and most influential writers of children’s books. I first read The Box of Delights in Kenya, when I was about ten. When I went to the States for college, I was horrified to find that no one had heard of it, and that the only available edition had been butchered by an abridger (who had somehow managed to trim out all the most marvelous and magical parts). Happily, New York Review Books recently came out with unabridged versions of both The Box of Delights and its precursor, The Midnight Folk. It now seems to be finding some sort of readership in the U.S.