Following the success of their collaboration on Robin Hood David Wood and Dave and Toni Arthur wrote Jack the Lad a musical celebration of Jack the ubiquitous hero or everyman of English legend myth and folklore from Little Jack Horner through Jack and the Beanstalk to Spring Heeled Jack the Terror of London. The setting is a gypsy encampment where a series of Jack tales and songs are performed by the gypsies to celebrate the 80th birthday of their senior member affectionately known as Jack the Lad. The play therefore depicts contemporary gypsy life as well as traditional gypsy customs and superstitions and is a delightful amalgam of the traditional arts of storytelling singing and dancing with a mumming play a shadowmime and puppetry also employed within the main framework.