The Reluctant Dragon: Performance Edition

The Reluctant Dragon: A Performance Edition

Adapted from the work of Kenneth Grahame

By Querida Funck

A witty fable of friendship, imagination, and the courage to choose peace over pride-adapted for today's readers, actors, and storytellers.

In this Performance Edition of The Reluctant Dragon, Lemery House Press brings Kenneth Grahame's timeless tale into a format designed for stage and classroom use. Blending literature and performance, this edition presents the complete text of Grahame's classic story framed by insightful context, character and story arc analysis, and techniques for live or recorded interpretation.

First published in 1898, The Reluctant Dragon playfully overturns the knight-versus-monster tradition. Instead of a ferocious beast, Grahame gives us a poetry-loving dragon, a sensible boy, and a courteous St. George who learns that not every battle must end in blood. Their unlikely friendship becomes a lesson in empathy, imagination, and creative compromise-a message as relevant now as it was more than a century ago.

This Performance Edition supports readers and educators seeking ways to bring literature to life. Actors and voice artists will find guidance for pacing, tone, and character differentiation. Teachers and drama coaches can draw from included notes on historical context, classroom discussion ideas, and approaches for story-theatre performance.

Part of the True Voice Shorts - Modern Fables for Grown-Ups series, The Reluctant Dragon: A Performance Edition celebrates the power of story to bridge page and stage, inviting readers to read, speak, and share timeless literature in new ways.