David Henry Wilson

David Henry Wilson (1937, London - ) is an English writer. As an author he is best known for his children's stories such as the Jeremy James series. Wilson has also had a number of plays produced in the United Kingdom, both for children and adults.^[1]

Biography

Wilson was educated at Dulwich College and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He has lived in France, Ghana, Germany and Switzerland, and for many years was a lecturer at the universities of Bristol and Konstanz (where he founded and ran the university theatre). He is widowed and has three grown-up children, and now lives in Taunton, Somerset.

Wilson has had many books published in the United Kingdom. A number of these have also been translated into other languages. He also translates many works from French and German, ranging from children’s books by Kirsten Boie to travel guides by Peter Sager, art history by Werner Hofmann, and literary theory by Wolfgang Iser. He is also a prolific playwright, writing both short and full-length works. A common theme appears to be sequels to works by Shakespeare.

Selected works for children

• The Jeremy James series, comprising Elephants Don’t Sit on Cars, Never Say Moo to a Bull, How the Lion Lost his Lunch, Can a Spider Learn to Fly?, Do Goldfish Play the Violin?, Please Keep Off the Dinosaur, Do Gerbils Go to Heaven?, Never Steal Wheels from a Dog.
• The Fastest Gun Alive
• The Superdog series - Superdog, Superdog the Hero, Superdog in Trouble
• Gander of the Yard, Gideon Gander Solves the World’s Greatest Mysteries
• The Coachman Rat, a novel.

Selected plays

• We’re Looking for Mary Pickford. Two ancient children rebel against their mother.
• Jones v Jones. The disintegration of a marriage.
• Who Cares? A farcical tragedy, in which two pensioners prepare to donate their meagre savings to charity
• People in Cages.
• Are You Normal, Mr Norman? & other short plays, including the title play, in which Mr Norman visits a demon dentist
• The Death Artist.
• Gas and Candles

Selected Shakespearian themed plays

• Shylock’s Revenge, a full-length sequel to The Merchant of Venice (Shakespearian–sized cast, first produced at University of Hamburg).

• Iago, The Villain of Venice, a full-length sequel to Othello (another large cast).

• Excellent Beauty & other short plays, including How To Avoid A Tragedy, a 30-minute, happy-ending romp through Shakespeare’s four great tragedies (3m, 1f, winner of the Hydrae Prize 2003.) “Very witty, light and entertaining” (Royal Shakespeare Company).

• Lear’s Fool / The Tragedy of Lady Macbeth. Two one-hour plays, exploring two of Shakespeare’s most enigmatic characters. (4m, 1f and a minimum of 4m, 2f, first produced at the Jermyn Street Theatre, London.) “Rewriting Shakespeare requires a fair amount of courage, not to mention talent – both of which David Henry Wilson appears to possess in considerable amounts” (West End Extra).

References