The Riddle Machine

Synopsis

The Riddle Machine is a children's play about growing up. Cara, Hap, Ug, Casper and Polly are on a spaceship taking them to a new world. Watching over them is Robot, acting as a metaphorical parent. Before they can enter their new world, the children must answer the riddle put forth by the riddle machine: "What is the greatest riddle of all?" The controlling Robot tries to prevent their quest for freedom, telling them repeatedly not to be naughty or cheeky or disobedient, and trying to mould them as she (or he, as the Robot was performed by both men and women) sees fit. The children learn that being "good" is not always what is best, and the new world they are flying toward is really adulthood.

The working title for this play was Out of This World!

Theatrical Productions

1. Holiday Theatre, Vancouver, 1966.

Directed by Robert Sherrin

Cara: Brenda Ellis

Dove: Teresa Sneed

Hap: Robert Sime

Robot: Dorothy Davies

Ug: David Stein

Lolly: Jane Heyman

Polly: Paddy Campbell

Casper: Nicky Orchard

2. Holiday Theatre on Tour for Festival of Canada, directed by Joy Coghill.

3. Playhouse Holiday, Vancouver, directed by Gloria Shapiro, 19??.

Also had a theatrical run in Chicago, and was performed at Expo '67 in Montreal.

About the Play

I had been asked to write a children's stage play--my first--by Miss Joy Coghill, a remarkable woman who is responsible for so much innovative work in Canadian children's theater. I began with some vague idea of monster children and the general theme of growing up--and was working out conventional plots, with castles, fairy godmothers, witches, and so on. Miss Coghill said, "Make it new!" and so, in the end, I came up with a play which, Miss Coghill says, broke almost every rule of children's theater at that time.

-Betty Lambert

Bibliography

Lifton, Betty Jean (ed.), Contemporary Children's Theater, New York: Avon Books, 1974, pp. 377-438.

Poster for a performance titled 'The Bubble Machine,' featuring a large fish with a rocket tail, starring Betty Lambert, with incidental music by Marge Adelberg.
A list of characters and actors from 'The Riddle Machine,' featuring characters like Cara, Dove, Hap, Robot UG, Caspar, Polly, and actors such as Pat Armstrong and Richard Ayres.
Black and white photograph of children dressed in scout uniforms, standing outdoors beside a wooden fence.
A performer dressed as a clown with a tall white hat, frilly blouse, and patterned pants standing on stage, while a person in glasses sits nearby watching.
A vintage poster for 'The Controversial Children's Theater' directed by Betty Jean Ulfson, featuring a performer in colorful costume on stage with ghostly figures and stage lights in the background.