The Magic Drum and Other Favourite Stories by Sudha Murty is a collection of delightful folk tales from many lands. One important objective of the publication is to revive the lost charm of storytelling in the community and family setting.
The book has a large collection of folk tales – funny tales, racy tales, tales of wise men, foolish men, greedy men, oh yes, the smart women, clever girls, and the hapless kings, the princes, princesses, the hip minstrels, the snappy jesters, and all those animals. The stage adaptation includes a good number of these stories, grouped into five thematic sets. Through a Lucky Dip game with the children in the audience the players perform the stories that they actually choose! There is room for lots of audience participation through the performance, including sing-along songs.
The play has been published by Vitasta Publishers as part of an anthology titled 'Children's Theatre', which is available on Amazon and Flipkart.