Editing Toad of Toad Hall (section)

== Background and first productions==
For his stage version of Grahame's book, the humorist and playwright [[A. A. Milne]] concentrated on the adventures of [[Mr. Toad|Mr Toad]], which make up about half of the original book, because they lent themselves most easily to being staged. He loved Grahame's book, which was one of the reasons why he decided to adapt it. He wrote in the introduction to the published play:
{{blockindent|There are familiarities which we will allow only ourselves to take. Your hands and my hands are no cleaner than anybody else's hands, yet the sort of well-thumbed bread-and-butter which we prefer is that on which we have placed our own thumbs. It may be that to turn Mr Kenneth Grahame into a play is to leave unattractive finger-marks all over him, but I love his books so much that I cannot bear to think of anybody else disfiguring them. That is why I accepted a suggestion, which I should have refused in the case of any other book as too difficult for me, that I should dramatize ''[[The Wind in the Willows]]''.<ref>Milne (1946), p. v</ref>|}}

The first production was at the [[Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool]], on 21 December 1929, under the direction of [[William Armstrong (theatre director)|William Armstrong]]. The first London productions were at the [[Lyric Theatre, London|Lyric Theatre]] on 17 December 1930 and the [[Savoy Theatre]] on 22 December 1931, directed by [[Frank Cellier (actor)|Frank Cellier]].<ref name=first/>

===Original casts===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align: left; margin-right: 0;"
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |Liverpool, 1929
! scope="col" |Lyric, 1930
! scope="col" |Savoy, 1931
|-
| Nurse
| Mamie Hunt 
| Mona Jenkins
| Mona Jenkins
|-
| Marigold
| Katrina Kaufmann 
| [[Wendy Toye]]
| [[Nova Pilbeam]]
|-
| The Mole
| [[Alan Webb (actor)|Alan Webb]]
| [[Richard Goolden]]
| Richard Goolden
|-
| The Water Rat
| [[Lloyd Pearson]]
| Ivor Barnard
| [[Cameron Hall (actor)|A. Cameron Hall]]
|-
| Mr Badger
| [[Wyndham Goldie]] 
| Eric Stanley
| Eric Stanley
|-
| Toad
| Leslie Kyle 
| [[Frederick Burtwell]]
| Frederick Burtwell
|-
| Alfred
| Peter Mather 
| R. Halliday Mason
| R. Halliday Mason
|-
| Back Legs of Alfred
| Martin Hyde 
| Frank Snell
| Frank Snell
|-
| Chief Weasel
| Nelson Welch 
| Ronald Alpe
| Robert Hughes
|-
| Chief Stoat
| John Guinness 
| William McGuigan
| Leslie Stroud
|-
| Chief Ferret
| John Robinson 
| Alfred Fairhurst
| Neal Alston
|-
| First Field-Mouse
| Sally Lockhart 
| Gordon Tucker
| Jim Neal
|-
| Second Field-Mouse
| Audrey Wilson 
| Robert Sinclair
| Jim Soloman
|-
| Policeman
| Herbert Bickerstaff 
| Alban Blakelock
| Alban Blakelock
|-
| Gaoler
| Basil Nairn 
| Alfred Fairhurst
| Robert Hughes
|-
| Judge
| [[James Harcourt]]
| Alfred Clark
| [[Tom Reynolds (actor)|Tom Reynolds]]
|-
| Usher
| Alfred Sangster 
| Humphrey Morton
| Beeson King
|-
| Turkey
| Lorraine Cromarty 
| Gordon Tucker
| Jim Soloman
|-
| Duck
| Trevor Reid
| Robert Sinclair
| Jim Neal
|-
| Phoebe
| Joan Harker
| Joan Harker
| Wendy Toye
|-
| Washerwoman
| [[Marjorie Fielding]]
| Dorothy Fane
| Dorothy Fane
|-
| Mama Rabbit
| Elizabeth Ripley 
| Phyllis Coulthard
| Phyllis Coulthard
|-
| Harold Rabbit
| Doris Forrest 
| Marcus Haig
| Jim Ned
|-
| Lucy Rabbit
| Kathleen Boutcher
| Daphne Allen
| Daphne Allen
|-
| Barge-Woman
| Pauline Lacey
| Frances Waring
| Muriel Johnston
|}
:Sources: ''[[The Stage]]'' (1929); ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'' (1930); and playscript (1931).<ref name=first>"Provincial Productions", ''The Stage'', 26 December 1929, p. 18; "Toad of Toad Hall", ''The Era'', 24 December 1920, p. 1; and Milne (1932), p. iii</ref>