The Little Prince – London Coliseum

Writer: Antoine de Saint-Exupér

Adaptor:  Chris Mouron

Director: Anne Tournié

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is a much-loved French fable for children that teaches them about existentialism, love, loss, and the joy of regaining those who have been loved and lost through the sweet sting of death. It is poetic, sentimental, marvellous, and strange. Anne Tournié and Chris Mouron have made it into a son et lumière spectacle that is touring the world, with a four-day residency at the Coliseum.

A company of acrobats and dancers animate the story in front of a swirling backdrop of video-scenic splendour designed by Marie Jumelin. The videography is amazing, but the stage is bare so that all the actors can be bathed in the visual effects. This makes the performers a touch isolated on the vast expanse of the Coliseum’s empty stage, but since isolation is a recurring theme, maybe that’s intentional.

The dilemma for the company is the different physical skills required of an acrobat and a dancer. The strength and showmanship required of a successful aerialist do not necessarily translate into a dancer’s artistic expression, and a lot of the choreography is a slightly galumphing segue into the somersaults and handstands with which the performers are more comfortable. The notable exception is Marie Menuge who dances the role of the Prince’s rose companion with grace and power, but otherwise, many of the sequences overstay their welcome, particularly in a show for children. The other exceptional performance is by Marta Kowalewska as the snake, transforming her aerialist corde lisse skills into a sensual, threatening dance with Dylan Barone as the Prince, using her rope to excellent effect as the sharp end of a snake.

The show is flashy and loud, using a score composed by Terry Truck to good effect, but makes a slightly overwhelming evening’s entertainment. The delicacy and precision of Saint-Exupéry’s fable gets lost in the large-scale theatrics, and most notably there is no attempt to sustain the central theme of the novella, the relationship between the lost Little Prince and the lost airman. The airman disappears after the first scene, and the Prince goes off on a series of adventures without further reference to him, even though the written fable centres on that relationship. It is a major loss for anyone coming to the show because they love the story, and substituting it for flashy visual spectacle seems like a poor trade-off.

Chris Mouron narrates throughout (in French, surtitled), and sings occasionally. Her singing is lovely, her narration a touch pedestrian. Flashes of lovely theatrics in a somewhat lumbering spectacular is the largest single takeaway.

Runs until 16 March 2025