A Traveller in Time
by Michael Johnston
Novelist and playwright Michael Johnston adapted Alison Uttley’s 1939 children’s book
to the stage in this short three-act play with multiple transitions between the twentieth
and the sixteenth century.
The lights dim and the kitchen is “transformed” into how it was in the Spring of 1582
but many of the kitchen props, including the table and rocking chair remain. As the
lights come up again, loud cock crows are heard suggesting that time has passed and it is
the following morning. An offstage voice is heard calling out for Dame Cecily. Tabitha
enters stage leading a puzzled Penelope by the hand. Penelope is wearing a green dress
with wide sleeves.
A Traveller in Time by Michael Johnston
(2011).