Play takes young audience to the stars
PARKTOWN – Children's imagination soars with brand new play at the National Children's Theatre.
A story of love and friendship. A story of travelling and lessons learned. A story of magic and imagination. The Little Prince is based on a story by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and reworked for stage by artistic director, Francois Theron.
The Little Prince is currently showing at the National Children’s Theatre in Parktown until 17 April and promises to entertain adults with its deep story-line, but intrigue young viewers with its set, costumes and music. This heartwarming tale begins with a Pilot (Brandon Lindsay) who lands his plane in the Sahara Dessert and befriends the Little Prince (Samuel Straw) who has fallen to earth from an asteroid.
The audience gets a chance to travel to different planets as per the memory of the Little Prince. On his way he meets a variety of characters from a friendly fox to a sneaky snake. This story takes the entire family on a fascinating world created by a talented young cast, with lighting by Jane Gosnell, a set design by Stan Knight and costumes by Sarah Roberts.
One of the actresses in this show, Lea Vivier, who plays the conceited man, the snake and the merchant is a resident of Linden in Randburg. Vivier graduated from Rhodes University in 2015 with a BA degree in drama and said that this role was her first audition since moving to Johannesburg from Cape Town in January.
“Doing this play is so fun, but so challenging.” She explained that children’s theatre is very difficult as the audience is so different each time. “You have to keep the attention of the young audience the entire time,” said Vivier. She added that the adults leave the theatre with tears as it is such a moving story-line and the children leave the audience happy and excited to meet the cast.
Vivier concluded that theatre for children is so important as children of these days get instant gratification from TV and computers, but with theatre they get the chance to have a total sensory experience. “Every child should have an opportunity to experience theatre,” said Vivier.
Details: National Children’s Theatre, 011 484 1584.
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