Sybilla Oritur

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Zach, J.O. and i went to see Geordie Productions’ Little Prince on its opening night (Friday, Nov. 28th). Asides from the very eerie feeling walking up the escalator in the Guy-Concordia metro station and feeling both old and out-of-place in a locale usually associated with the familiar and comfortable, it was a stellar evening.

Sitting in the lounge, discussing the compartmentalization of personalities in contemporary society was, well, good times. The Little Prince is definitely worth going to see. Saint-Exupery is sadly one of the many authors who wrote his own death, but the philosophical quality of Le Petit Prince was well adapted to the stage. One of us theatre-goers had his doubts about a 30-something-year old playing the Little Prince, but his fears were not well-founded. The use of puppetry was just fantabulous and i LOVED the staging of the opening sequence. Boas and sheep all the way!

There were a few moments of over-the-topness that detracted from the overall effect of the performance. For example, in the last few minutes, an eerie and loud Little Prince laugh was played on the speaker system. CREEPY. However, while i was able to come up with points for improvement, i could not come up with a better alternative for its overall staging. Well done and delightful. I was happy to be surrounded by good friends with keen minds as we left the venue (D.B. Clarke Theatre in Concordia’s Hall Building).

The highlight of the show, however, was its child audience. A little girl behind us while listening to the Little Prince talk about needing to get back to his rose whispered a little too loudly to her mother “The Rose is Dead.” I could not resist laughing.

If you’re thinking of taking a child: I wouldn’t recommend this performance for children under the age of 8. While its delightful and entertaining, there are some longer monologues in which the younger children had obviously completely lost concentration. It’s a deep book with many levels of on which you can appreciate it. It is a little beyond a 4 year old.

We followed up good performance with a good meal - but that’s the subject of a foodie adventure in a subsequent post.