PADDOCK PRODUCTIONS (in association with Farnham Maltings, East Sussex Arts Partnership and the Ashden Charitable Trust) presents

ELSIE PIDDOCK SKIPS IN HER SLEEP by Eleanor Farjeon

The story of a champion skipper...

Eleanor Farjeon’s classic story of a village that learns to skip, and is rewarded with a gift of rare and lasting value, was dedicated to “the children of Sussex” who skipped in the lane outside her cottage. The Paddock brings this energetic tale to life in a production specifically designed for outdoor spaces. Suitable for all ages, especially skippers from age 5 to 50!

ELEANOR FARJEON & ELSIE PIDDOCK

Eleanor Farjeon was born in 1881 and died in 1965. She and her 3 brothers grew up in an imaginative nursery in Hampstead, London, with very little education, but plenty of books, music, art and theatre. All four grew up to make a success in the worlds of literature, music and theatre. Eleanor wrote over 80 books for children & adults, including poetry, stories, novels and plays.

Her own favourite story was ELSIE PIDDOCK SKIPS IN HER SLEEP. The idea came to her during the First World War when she was living in a cottage in Sussex, near Amberley, and she looked out of her window to see children skipping down the lane. She watched and listened,and learnt their rhymes. One little girl was called Elsie Puttick and she became the model for ELSIE PIDDOCK.

Eleanor Farjeon would have loved to have seen a stage production of her story. All the Farjeons loved the theatre, and their grandfather was a famous American actor, Joseph Jefferson. She wrote musical plays herself, THE GLASS SLIPPER and THE TWO BOUQUETS with her brother, Herbert, and also THE SILVER CURLEW. Sussex was one of her favourite places in the whole world.

Anne Harvey, Literary Executor of the Eleanor Farjeon Estate