Anne Fine's books are read by children everywhere, and they've been turned into films. Now for the first time, one of her stories is reaching the stage, reports CHARLES HUTCHINSON

PLAY safe and you book a ticket for Birmingham Stage Company's tenth anniversary production of Roald Dahl's James And The Giant Peach at the Grand Opera House in York next month. Be more adventurous, and you might take a punt on another family show, Anne Fine's The Book of The Banshee.

Next Friday and Saturday, the first stage adaptation of Fine's book for children tours the Opera House in a co-production mounted by the Pied Piper Theatre Company and Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford.

Fine, who lives in County Durham, is a distinguished writer for children of all ages, with more than 40 books in her portfolio, and she holds the post of Children's Laureate. Twice winner of the Carnegie Medal, Britain's most coveted children's literature award, she also has won the Guardian's Children's Literature Award and the Whitbread Children's Novel Award twice

Her books for older children include Goggle Eyes, which was adapted for television by the BBC, and 20th Century Fox filmed her novel Madame Doubtfire as Mrs Doubtfire, a cross-dressing vehicle for the comic talents of Robin Williams.

As for The Book Of The Banshee, Fine's comic story portrays how normal family life can turn into trench warfare when children reach adolescence. The story is told by Will, aged 14, who compares the battleground of his own family with the experiences of William Scott Saffrey, another 14 year old but this one fighting in the First World War.

Will's sister, Estelle, 13, has changed from an easy-going child into a banshee, shattering the happy equilibrium of the family. Four-year-old Muffy has retreated into silence while Mum and Dad try to juggle the demands of dealing with Estelle's behaviour and the usual pressures of a working family.

The Book Of The Banshee has been adapted for the stage by Pied Piper Theatre Company's artistic director, Tina Williams. She has written and directed more than 20 plays for children and has had five productions in the West End. This play, however, is her first stage adaptation for a living author and she explains her choice of book: "I was looking for something for a very specific age range, 11 to 13 and their families; a show to see with their parents and maybe with slightly older and younger brothers and sisters; something they could enjoy, something that was light hearted but something with a message."

Tina had done youth theatre workshops at the Yvonne Arnaud on two of Fine's books, The Angel Of Nitshill Road, on the theme of bullying, and Bill's New Frock, a study of stereotyping. "The children in the group just loved working on them but they'd been written for a slightly younger age group than I had in mind for a tour. I wanted to do a play for the age group that falls between Roald Dahl plays and plays for 16 upwards that look at adolescent issues," she says. "There are very few plays that address the 11 to 13 age group, so that's why I want to write for it."

Tina decided an adaptation would be a better choice than one of her own works.

"I may have written 20 plays but I'm not recognised primarily as a writer or well known, so I wouldn't sell tickets writing for children under my own name - but Anne is well known," she says. "This way, I have the experience of being a writer for the stage and she has the experience of writing for this age group."

Tina has given Anne access to her drafts for this adaptation.

"It's extremely important when you're doing someone else's work that you're sympathetic and stick to its sentiments or all you're doing is your own thing," she says.

In the cause of authenticity, Tina has taken her drafts to secondary schools for pupils to comment on the dialogue and in particular on whether there was any language that a 13 or 14 year old would not say.

"We also did question-and-answer sessions with schools in the first week in Guildford and then changed the play in rehearsal, and we did more questions and answers three weeks later and that time there were no negative comments," she says.

"I believe it's the only way to approach it. Beckett and Pinter might be different, feeling that their creative endeavours are absolutely right. But for Tina Williams, I think what's the point unless the audience is really with you.

"For me, you write something for your target audience and that doesn't mean compromising but if you lose your young audience, they're not going to become the audience of the future."

These are wise words from the Pied Piper artistic director, looking to lead children into the joys of live theatre beyond pantomime.

The Book Of The Banshee, Grand Opera House, York, March 15 at 10.30am and 1.30pm, March 16 at 2.30pm, 7pm. Tickets: £9, concessions available; ring 01904 671818.

Updated: 09:28 Friday, March 08, 2002