The Chelsea Theatre is staging an operatic play based on the Anglo-Armenian children who inspired Arthur Ransom’e much-loved children’s novel Swallows and Amazons.

‘Swallows and Armenians‘, by Iran-born playwright Dr Karen Babayan, will have just THREE performances – at 7pm on Friday, 20th June and at 2.30pm and 7pm on Saturday, 21st June.

The story of the play is based on the five children who were the real inspiration behind the adventure story set in the Lake District. They were Taqui, Susan, Titty, Roger and Brigit Altounyan from Aleppo, Syria. They were the children of Ransome’s dear friend Dora Collingwood, who grew up in the Lakes, and her Armenian husband, Dr Ernest Altounyan.

Ransome was living in Windermere when the children visited in the summer of 1928. There, he taught them to sail a small dinghy on lake Coniston. By the time the author and journalist came to write his novel, the group of children characters – the “Swallows” – and their boat called Amazon, had become quintessentially English children named John, Susan, Titty and Roger Walker.

For three performances only…

The book was published in 1930 and led to a series of 12 novels that became a publishing classic that endures to this day. But the story of the real children has been slightly airbrushed from literary history and Babayan’s play aims to establish the role they played. A press statement from the producers outlines the background and motivation for the play: